Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria, South Africa.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, delivering the sentence at Pretoria’s High Court, cited the “gross negligence” the runner showed when he shot Ms Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet cubicle door at his home.
However, legal experts said that the section of law Judge Masipa quoted when she announced the double-amputee Olympic athlete’s sentence provides for a maximum of five years in prison and Pistorius could be released after 10 months in jail to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
Judge Masipa also sentenced Pistorius to three years in prison for unlawfully firing a gun in a restaurant in a separate incident weeks before Ms Steenkamp’s 2013 shooting death. She ordered that sentence to be wholly suspended.
Judge Masipa delivered her ruling after reviewing prosecution arguments for a tough sentence as well as the defence case for a more lenient punishment for Pistorius.
Pistorius killed Ms Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year, shooting her through a toilet door in his home. Pistorius said that the shooting was an accident because he mistook his girlfriend for a night-time intruder.
Judge Masipa convicted him of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, but acquitted him of murder.
Pistorius stood as the judge announced his sentence, and then left the courtroom and walked down a flight of stairs that lead to holding cells. His sentence starts immediately.