PRETORIA, South Africa
Oscar Pistorius was taken away in a police van with barred windows today to start serving a five-year prison sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Delivering her sentence, Judge Thokozile Masipa cited the “gross negligence” the double-amputee Olympic runner showed when he shot Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home.
Pistorius, who had cried and wretched during his trial, was unemotional as he stood to hear his sentence. His prison term begins immediately and he was led down a flight of stairs and toward holding cells before leaving the South African courthouse in the armored vehicle.
Pistorius could be released after 10 months in jail to serve the remainder under house arrest, according to legal experts.
Steenkamp’s parents were also in court to hear the sentence and the dead model’s mother, June, said justice had been done. A close friend of Steenkamp, Gina Myers, said: “I really don’t think any of us will heal anytime soon … there will always be questions.”
Pistorius’ defense and the prosecution have 14 days to lodge any appeal against the judge’s decision.
Prosecutors said they are considering whether to appeal the sentence, where Pistorius, 27, could serve less than a year in jail for killing his 29-year-old girlfriend.
Marius du Toit, a legal analyst and criminal defense lawyer, said Pistorius would have to serve one-sixth of his sentence in prison — 10 months — before he could be eligible to be moved to house arrest.
“It’s an appropriate sentence,” du Toit said. He said a higher sentence would have been impossible because “you cannot elevate the sentence to murder.”
Another analyst, law professor Kelly Phelps, said Judge Masipa had done “a remarkable job at balancing all of the competing interests that were weighing down on her.”
As Pistorius left in the police van, a raucous crowd gathered around the vehicle, whistling, shouting and banging on the caged windows.
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