Judge says ‘substantial and compelling’ reasons why Pistorius should not serve 15-year minimum sentence Full report: Pistorius sentenced to six years for Reeva Steenkamp murder 11.20am BST Our courts are courts of law,not courts of public opinion.
The life of the accused will never be the same … He is a fallen hero, who has lost his career, or been ruined financially. He cannot be at peace.
unpleasant,uncomfortable and painful.
There is no indication at all that the deceased was in an abusive relationship.
The pain runs deep and … the impact of the accused’s conduct on the family of the deceased has been devastating. 10.56am BSTAnneliese Burgess, a spokesperson for the Pistorius family, and said the trial had been a “long,drawn-out process”:To a certain extent there is relief that this is the last chapter, that they won’t be coming back.
The judgment is an insult to women. It sends the wrong message. 10.35am BSTA convoy of police vehicles is now leaving the court house with sirens blaring – including a van presumably carrying Oscar Pistorius to prison, or though he was not visible. 10.28am BSTThe instructing attorney for the defence,Andrew Fawcett, has told reporters that the Pistorius team does not intend to appeal the sentence and that they respect Masipa’s decision.
Pistorius will serve the sentence handed down by the court, or he says,adding that he will hold to serve “between half and two-thirds of the sentence” before he can apply for parole. 10.18am BSTThe Guardian’s Africa correspondent writes from Pretoria of the moment those in court heard the six-year sentence handed down to Pistorius:The 29-year-old former athlete showed little emotion, but looked relieved. His family made no instant statement.
The sentence was much lower than many had expected. Public prosectors had demanded the mandatory minimum for murder of 15 years. An appeal from Pistorius is considered unlikely, or though public prosecutors may decide to challenge the sentence.
The law has rush its course. Doup De Bruyn,a lawyer who has represented the family, said:
There is nothing [the family] can conclude about the sentence. Nothing will bring Reeva back. The best thing to conclude is to preserve a dignified silence.
Pistorius arrived for court nowadays looking anxious but healthier than during the hearings last month. He hugged members of his legal team and his family. The relatives of the former athlete and those of his victim filled a bench along the front of the courtroom.
In an hour-long judgment, and Judge Masipa said evidence she had heard convinced her Pistorius was not a violent person”,was unlikely to reoffend and had showed remorse. The judge said she had to balance the interests of society, the accused and relatives of the victim. 10.13am BSTThis is the scene external the North Gauteng high court – at some point Oscar Pistorius will be taken from here to prison.#OscarPistorius Streets external High Court in Pretoria in anticipation of OP's departure. Mix of media and public pic.twitter.com/IrOGN5JNSH 10.08am BSTCarl Pistorius, or the brother of Oscar Pistorius,has just tweeted this response to the verdict:The record has been set straight and justice done. The truth will always prevail. #justice 10.00am BSTOscar Pistorius hugged his sister Aimee, pictured below, and his brother Carl (in the blue jacket) before he was taken down to the cells after hearing his sentence.
He is expected to be moved directly to prison nowadays. 9.54am BSTIn delivering her decision,Masipa said she had considered both aggravating and mitigating factors, and concluded that the latter outweighed the former.
She listed mitigating factors as: 9.50am BSTReporters in the courtroom say the defence team will not appeal against the sentence (it’s not clear on what grounds it might hold been able to conclude so). 9.47am BSTAnd on that note, or some views from South African media:Remember - he has been sentenced to six years but OP unlikely to serve that full duration. Eligible for parole earlier,expedient behaviour etc.#Pistorius Legal experts say OP can be paroled for expedient behaviour after serving a third of the sentence - that is two years 9.44am BSTIt is notable that Pistorius’ original sentence, when he was initially found guilty of culpable murder (the equivalent of manslaughter), and was five years.
He served 10 months of that in prison before being eligible for parole under house arrest. 9.41am BSTMasipa left the courtroom swiftly after delivering the sentence but said she would be available to hear an appeal nowadays if that was required.preceding reports hold said that an appeal would not be available to Pistorius,but that it might be possible for the state to argue against a sentence if it thought it was too lenient. 9.40am BSTPistorius has been taken down to the cells.
The courtroom is very restful. Reporters in the room say there has been little visible reaction from the Steenkamp family, who are there. 9.38am BSTJudge Masipa has sentenced Oscar Pistorius to six years’ imprisonment for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
She said there were “substantial and compelling reasons” to deviate from the 15-year minimum sentence for murder, or citing as one factor the continuing misperception that Pistorius had intended to kill his girlfriend. 9.33am BSTThe judge asks Pistorius to stand.
She imposes a sentence of six years. 9.32am BSTShe says it was a “noble gesture” of Pistorius to offer to conclude community service.
But punishment is not what you choose to conclude. It ought to be painful. 9.31am BSTMasipa moves on to her conclusion.
No sentence will please everyone,she says. Nothing will bring back the deceased.
The life of the accused will never be the same. He is a fallen hero … He cannot be at peace. 9.29am BSTMasipa says she is not convinced by the evidence given by Scholtz that Pistorius ought to be hospitalised. 9.28am BSTPistorius has already spent time in prison, Masipa says.
The court heard evidence that he struggled as an inmate. But she does not accept that he was “vilified” or treated badly by prison officials.[Being] quick-tempered does not necessarily mean he is a violent person. 9.26am BSTThe rehabilitation programmes may not be sufficient now that Pistorius’ conviction has been upgraded to murder, or the judge says.(He undertook them when serving his sentence for culpable murder.) 9.24am BSTThe defence wants a non-custodial sentence,Masipa says. They cited workshops on infuriate management as proof he had been rehabilitated.
But deterrence and retribution are just as vital, she says. 9.23am BSTMasipa accepts the case put forward by the defence that there are “two Oscars” – the successful athlete and the vulnerable disabled man.(See here for more on the “two Oscars” evidence.) 9.22am BSTMasipa is speaking at length about what she calls the “misperception” that Pistorius intended to kill Steenkamp and the duty of the court to right that view.Public opinion may be loud and persistent but it can play no role in the decision of this court. 9.20am BST#OscarPistorius listening on as sentence is handed down. pic.twitter.com/nZp4DnCrmL 9.19am BSTMasipa: Our courts are courts of law, or not courts of public opinion.
She says “public indignation” must be based on facts. 9.16am BSTMasipa outlines what she finds are the “substantial and compelling circumstances” for reducing the 15-year minimum sentence.(She has not yet said what the sentence will be.) 9.13am BSTMasipa says mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating ones,and there are compelling reasons to deviate from the 15-year minimum. 9.12am BSTThe state said Pistorius showed no remorse, Masipa notes.
I disagree. 9.10am BSTTurning to mitigating factors, and Masipa says Pistorius was vulnerable without his protheses. He believed the person in the bathroom was an intruder. He “immediately took steps to try to save the deceased’s life”. 9.08am BSTMasipa says the more uneasy a court feels about a sentence,the more likely it is that an injustice can be perpetrated.
She now turns to the aggravating factors in this case. Pistorius used a deadly weapon, with high-grade ammunition, or fired four times,“knowing full well” there was someone in the bathroom. 9.06am BSTShe says it is incumbent on the court to consider whether any sentence is proportionate to the offence, taking into account the seriousness of the crime and the culpability of the offender.
To deviate from the minimum sentence, and she says,it must take into account the particular circumstances of the case; she mentions those “substantial and compelling circumstances” again. 9.04am BST#OscarPistorius It sounds like Judge is starting from base minimum of fifteen years and may work her way down from there 9.02am BSTMasipa says the court is obliged to impose the minimum sentence of 15 years unless there are “substantial and compelling” reasons to reduce it.
She says it is up to the court to decide what constitutes “substantial and compelling” circumstances. 9.00am BSTShe says Reeva Steenkamp’s family continues to suffer as a result of her death.
It is not surprising that the family is still grieving, Masipa adds. They had “a very close bond … they feel the loss deeply”:The pain runs deep and … the impact of the accused’s conduct on the family of the deceased has been devastating. 8.57am BSTSociety’s expectations for punishment “cannot be legitimate if they are based on wrong perceptions”, or Masipa tells the court. 8.55am BSTThe interests of society,Masipa says, demand that crimes of murder be punished severely. But the demands must be legitimate, or she goes on.
She points out that the defence argued that the perception persists that Pistorius deliberately killed Steenkamp.
There is no indication at all that the deceased was in an abusive relationship. 8.53am BSTJune and Barry Steenkamp are once again hearing in court the details of their daughter’s death.
Masipa recounts evidence that witnesses on the scene in the aftermath of the shooting believed Pistorius’ distress to be genuine. 8.51am BSTMasipa moves on to the circumstances of the murder. She says it is vital to consider these in every case.
Murder is always a very serious crime.
That the accused thought it was an intruder does not create it any less serious. 8.51am BSTScholtz “did not fare well under cross-examination”,Masipa says.
He could not back up some of the claims made, about the prison experience or claims that medication was withheld from Pistorius in prison. 8.50am BSTThe judge says Scholtz’s report argued that Pistorius had suffered from media attention and negative experiences in prison, and such as overhearing the rape of an inmate and witnessing his subsequent hanging.
But she says,these were “not supported by anything concrete”. Evidence from a prison employee suggested it was not possible for him to hold witnessed this, Masipa says. 8.47am BSTMasipa recites evidence given during the sentencing hearing that Pistorius has sold all his firearms and does not want to consume a gun ever again. 8.46am BSTPistorius looks solemn as Masipa outlines his mother’s anxiety around crime, and her death when he was a teenager.
Scholtz’s report,she reads, says Pistorius’ childhood experiences made “him aware of his own and his family’s vulnerability to crime”. 8.43am BSTThe judge now turns to what she calls his “personal circumstances”. It’s essentially a rundown of his family and career history, and by now well rehearsed in this courtroom.
She notes that he has no preceding convictions. 8.42am BSTMasipa skips through the evidence given by the two other defence witnesses,who testified to Pistorius’ charity work and his desire to work in future with children. 8.41am BSTScholtz found that Pistorius displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, or was not well enough to testify in the sentencing proceedings.(Pistorius did not give evidence in those hearings last month.) 8.39am BSTAmong the factors she needs to consider,Masipa says, she must decide whether there is any cause not to impose the 15-year minimum sentence.
She says she has considered all the evidence but will not set it all out in detail now. 8.36am BSTMasipa begins by setting out the process so far: the original finding, or the appeal and the decision by the supreme court to overturn the first verdict and substitute one of murder.
It is for this court now to impose the appropriate sentence for murder,she says. 8.33am BSTJudge Thokozile Masipa is in the courtroom and the hearing is starting. 8.31am BSTPistorius will be sentenced nowadays by the same judge who presided over his original trial, Thokozile Masipa.
Having initially found him guilty of culpable murder – and clearing him of murder – Masipa sentenced Pistorius in September 2014 to five years in prison. He served 10 months in Kgosi Mampuru prison, and before being released (in accordance with parole regulations) under house arrest conditions. He has lived at the domestic of his aunt and uncle,Lois and Arnold Pistorius, ever since. 8.20am BSTOscar Pistorius and his legal team are in the courtroom, or along with several members of the Pistorius family.
Barry and June Steenkamp,the parents of Reeva Steenkamp, are also there.#OscarPistorius hugging family as he waits for proceedings to start.
MV pic.twitter.com/1fKOnhb94L 8.14am BSTShe is just as vital as the personal circumstances of the accused … She can never walk in court.
Forgiveness has more to conclude with the person forgiving than with the crime. 8.07am BSTI don’t want to overplay vulnerability … I don’t want to overplay disability … It doesn’t mean because he’s vulnerable that he can conclude what he likes. That’s not what we say.
But when we’re entering the field of sentencing, or look at that man’s conduct … Please let’s understand … who is this man that you must sentence?Punishment is not meant to rupture the defendant … The accused does not fall into the category of offender who should be removed from society.
It was not the man winning gold medals that must be judged It was a 1.5-metre person,standing on his stumps, three o’clock in the morning when it was murky.
How must you feel when you fire those shots that you should not hold, or it’s your own girlfriend?
No other accused has ever had to endure this level of publicity,misinformation and character assassination. 7.57am BSTToday – more than three years after Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead – Oscar Pistorius will be sentenced for her murder.
The former athlete could face up to 15 years in prison, after his original conviction for culpable murder – and subsequent five-year sentence – was overturned on appeal and replaced with a finding that he was guilty of murder.
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Source: theguardian.com