By David Smith/The
Guardian
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Oscar
Pistorius holds the hands of his relatives as he is taken down to holding cells
before being taken to Kgosi Mampuru prison. Photograph: Herman Verwey/AFP/Getty
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Outrage on social
media as defence lawyers for disgraced Paralympian seek his release into house
arrest after 10 months.
The last the world saw of Oscar
Pistorius on Tuesday was a sombre figure, still wearing suit and tie, under
police guard in the back of an armoured vehicle as he was transported to Kgosi
Mampuru II prison in Pretoria.
It was left to the imagination what fate
awaited the disgraced Paralympian as he prepared to have fingerprints taken,
don an orange jumpsuit and spend his first night behind bars at the start of a
five-year jail term for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
The sentence was handed down by the
high court judge Thokozile Masipa, bringing an enthralling and exhausting 49-day trial
to an end.
Steenkamp’s mother, June, said justice
had been served. When it was put to her that, a sixth of the way into his
sentence, after only 10 months, Pistorius would be eligible to apply to serve
the rest under house arrest, she replied: “It doesn’t matter. He’s going to pay
something.”
Steenkamp’s father, Barry, added: “We
are satisfied.”
Prosecutors
will decide within 14 days whether to appeal against the length of the prison
term.
But the prospect of an early release
caused a fierce backlash on social media and among campaigners against gender
violence, with many arguing that Pistorius should have been convicted of
murder instead of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter.
The double-amputee athlete killed 29-year-old Steenkamp by shooting four times
through a locked toilet door on Valentine’s day last year after mistaking her
for an intruder.
Even so, the hopes of the “Blade Runner”
and his supporters that he could be spared prison altogether and resume his
lucrative sporting career were dashed when Masipa sat on the court dais for the
last time and pronounced sentence. “Mr Pistorius, please rise,” she told him.
The 27-year-old stood rigid, jaw
muscles clenched, hands folded in front of him, and stared straight ahead.
Behind, in the public gallery, his sister Aimee held a hand to her forehead,
while his father Henke, who says the ordeal has brought them closer together
following a long estrangement, betrayed little emotion. “The following is what
I consider to be a sentence that is fair and just both to society and to the
accused,” Masipa said. “Count one, culpable homicide: the sentence imposed is a
maximum imprisonment of five years.”
For a trial that has seen sobbing, vomiting and much melodrama, the
reaction from both families to the climactic moment was muted and stoical. But
when Masipa finished, Pistorius was quietly tearful. He stepped out of the
dock, leaving behind four white roses from a well-wisher and his green sick
bucket. He clasped the hands of family members, passing his designer watch to
an uncle for safe keeping. There were a few consoling words.
Then the hero of the 2012 London
Olympics was led by a police officer down a bleak staircase to the holding
cells. He descended 23 steps, one of them badly chipped, with a handrail whose
paint was scratched and, in the gloomy basement, walked through a plain wooden
door.
About an hour later, Pistorius emerged with a clutch of police officers
who escorted him past the cameras to an armoured vehicle and Kgosi Mampuru II
prison. Formerly Pretoria Central, the jail was once notorious for hanging
apartheid-era political prisoners.
At present 7,000 inmates endure
overcrowding, gang violence and unsanitary conditions, but Pistorius was
expected to undergo an immediate assessment to be detained in the hospital
area.
In an hour-long ruling, judge Masipa
said she had striven for a prison sentence that was neither too light nor too
severe. “I am of the view that a non-custodial sentence would send a wrong
message to the community,” she told the court. “On the other hand, a long
sentence would not be appropriate either, as it would lack the element of
mercy.”
The judge said house arrest and community service – proposed
by two defence witnesses in mitigation – would not be appropriate
for Pistorius, who had been guilty of “gross negligence”. She said: “Using a
lethal weapon, a loaded firearm, the accused fired not one, but four shots into
the door. The toilet was a small cubicle and there was no room for escape for
the person behind the door.”
Masipa said she had no reason to
believe that South Africa’s prisons would not be able to cater for the
needs of a disabled person. “Yes, the accused is vulnerable, but he
also has excellent coping skills.”
Perhaps anticipating criticism that she
has been too lenient on Pistorius because of his celebrity, the judge noted:
“It would be a sad day for this country if an impression was created that there
is one law for the poor and disadvantaged and another for the rich and famous.”
She also said pointedly: “Society
cannot always get what they want. Courts do not exist for a popularity contest
but only to dispense justice … The general public may not even know the
difference between punishment and vengeance.”
Family and friends of Steenkamp, a
model and law graduate, wore pictures of her face on their lapels. Masipa
described her as “young, vivacious and full of life … a promising young woman
who cared deeply for family, who was full of hope for the future, and lived life
to the full.”
Masipa continued: “The loss of life
cannot be reversed. Nothing I do or say today can reverse what happened to the
deceased and to her family. Hopefully this sentence shall provide some sort of
closure to the family … so they can move on with their lives.”
But gender activists condemned the
outcome. Rachel Jewkes, director of gender and health research at the South
African Medical Research Council,said: “I was appalled when I heard the
sentence.”
She described it as an opportunity
“very tragically missed”, adding: “This incredibly short sentence for the
killing of Reeva Steenkamp is another example of the lives and the career and
the future of a man being valued over that of a woman who he has killed.”
Pistorius was also given a three-year
sentence, suspended for five years, for a firearms offence when a gun went off
in a restaurant.
Pistorius would not appeal, he added.
“The court has now handed its sentence, and we accept the court’s ruling. Oscar
will embrace this opportunity to pay back to society … I hope Oscar will start
his own healing process as he now treads the path of restoration. As a family,
we will support and guide Oscar as serves his sentence.”
South Africa’s national prosecuting
authority has two weeks to decide whether to appeal against the verdict or the
sentence.
A spokesman, Nathi Mncube, said: “We
have stated that we were disappointed with the judgment but we take solace in
fact that Pistorius will serve time in jail.”
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