Oscar Pistorius Sentenced: ‘Blade Runner’ Gets 6 Years In Jail For Reeva Steenkamp’s Murder

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympian who was convicted of his ex-girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp’s murder, has been sentenced to six years in jail for her death.

Oscar Pistorius Sentenced

A judge in a Pretoria, South Africa court room sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison on Wednesday. The minimum jail sentence for culpable homicide in South Africa is typically 15 years in jail, but Judge Thokozile Masipa, citing mitigating circumstances, handed down a more lenient punishment. Among the circumstances were the 12 months Pistorius has already served, his status as a first-time offender, as well as the possibility of his rehabilitation.

Masipa also shared her view that Pistorius felt genuine remorse for killing Steenkamp, as shown through his efforts to reach out to Steenkamp’s family. “It is my view that it must be one of the most difficult things for any accused to have to face the victims of his crime and to apologize,” Masipa said.

A longer prison term than that handed down, according to Masipa, would “not serve justice.”

Pistorius had been initially serving a five-year sentence for Steenkamp’s murder on a charge of manslaughter. The sentence was upgraded to murder just as the house arrest portion of the sentencing was to take effect. As a court ruled that Pistorius has exhausted all legal options, he will not be permitted to appeal the decision.

Pistorius’s lower legs were amputated when he was a baby. While competing in track events, Pistorius sported carbon-fibre prosthetics that gave him the nickname “Blade Runner.” He became the first amputee runner to qualify and compete at an Olympic Games at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

In his trial, Pistorius, 29, had maintained that killing Steenkamp was an accidental act born out of fear of an intruder and the vulnerability of being without his prosthetic legs. The prosecution argued that Pistorius shot Steenkamp in a fit of rage, and believe that the athlete failed to show remorse for his crime.

Pistoruis, who has no plans on appealing Masipa’s sentencing, will be eligible to apply for parole half to two-thirds of the way through his sentence.