NATIONAL NEWS - Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius will today, for the second time in nearly two years, find out how long he will spend in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The former athlete served one year in jail after the High Court in Pretoria found him guilty of culpable homicide, but the appeal court overturned that finding last year and convicted him of murder.
Pistorius maintains that he shot and killed Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013 in the mistaken belief that she was an intruder.
Judge Thokozile Masipa has had to consider the arguments in aggravation of sentence by the State and mitigation by the defence team.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel says Pistorius should go to prison for no less than 15 years.
“Serious crimes will usually require that retribution and deterrence should come to the fore and that rehabilitation of offender will consequently play a relatively smaller role.”
Advocate Barry Roux suggested a non-custodial sentence.
