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Johannesburg, A South African judge on Tuesday sentenced Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic and Paralympic star, to serve a maximum of five years in jail for the culpable homicide, or manslaughter, of his model girlfriend.
Pistorius was also given a three-year suspended sentence for contravening the firearms control act, to run concurrently, which will be suspended for five years “on condition that within the period of suspension the accused is not found guilty of a crime where there is negligence involving the use of a firearm”.
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Delivering the lengthy judgment, Judge Thokozile Masipa said it was “a sentence that is fair and just, both to society and the accused.” After the court adjourned, Pistorius was led down to the holding cells.
Her decision is the final chapter of a dramatic and sometimes controversial trial that has captivated a global television audience.
It is a trial that has borne witness to the spectacular fall from grace of one of the world’s most recognisable athletes: a double-amputee who earned iconic status in South Africa and beyond after competing against able-bodied track stars in the 2012 London Olympics.
During the sentencing process last week, Pistorius’s defence described the 27-year-old as a broken man.
“He was an icon for what he has achieved. He’s lost everything. He lost all his sponsors. He lost all his money,” Barry Roux, defence lawyer, told the court in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital. “He has nothing. There is nothing left of this man.”
Mr Roux argued that Pistorius – dubbed the “blade-runner” because of the distinct carbon fibre blades he runs on – should be given community service. He said he had been punished enough and shown remorse for shooting to death Reeva Steenkamp, his girlfriend, during the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year.
But the prosecution countered that Pistorius should be jailed for a minimum of 10 years. In South Africa, the sentence for culpable homicide can range from a fine to lengthy imprisonment.
“We shouldn’t fail the parents. We shouldn’t fail society,” Gerrie Nel, the leader prosecutor, said. “Society may lose its trust in the court.”
During the arguments, South Africa’s overcrowded prison system was in effect put on trial, with the defence claiming that Pistorius’s disabilities would make him particularly vulnerable in prison.
Pistorius was born without fibula bones in his legs but overcame his disabilities to become a global star. Most notably, he reached the semi-finals of the 400 metres at the London Olympics after fighting for his right to run against able-bodied athletes, while also helping bring unprecedented attention to the Paralympics.
But less than a year later, he made international headlines for the wrong reasons when police were called to his home in a wealthy suburb of Pretoria in the early hours of February 14 2013. They discovered that Pistorius had killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate, by firing the 9mm pistol he kept by his bed four times through the locked toilet door of an en suite bedroom.
In his defence, Pistorius has insisted that the killing was a terrible accident after he mistakenly thought an intruder had entered his house through a bathroom window.
In her judgment last month, Judge Masipa criticised Pistorius as a poor and evasive witness. But in finding him not guilty of murder, she decided that he genuinely believed that someone had broken into the house at the time of the shooting and posed a risk to him and Steenkamp.
The judgment sparked controversy in South Africa, with some legal experts and commentators questioning her decision to acquit Pistorius of murder.
There has also been speculation that either the defence or prosecution could appeal, depending on the sentencing.
