Former Olympian, Oscar Pistorius, was today sentenced to 6-years in jail over the shooting death of girlfriend, law student and model, Reeva Steenkamp, whom the athlete shot and killed at his home in Pretoria, South Africa in 2013. In 2014 Pistorius was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 5-years in jail. However, he was placed on house arrest during the prosecution's appeal in the case.
Public outcry over the well publicized sentence led to the appeal and the high court subsequently overturning the original verdict by Judge Thokozile Masipa. In December 2015, the high court ruled Pistorius must be tried in court again again, but on the more severe charge of murder, as oppose to manslaughter.
Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius
Pistorius was convicted again today, as a result of the high court remanding the case back to heavily criticized Judge Thokozile Masipa. There is public outcry again regarding the case, as under the law, the judge should have given Pistorius the 15-year statutory minimum for murder. However, she has given Pistorius less than half the mandatory. This has created anger on social networking and among women's rights groups. Comments are flooding website stating Masipa continues to show bias in her rulings regarding "fallen hero" Pistorius. Many are stating Pistorius was given a slap on the wrist and could be released from prison in 2-years, whereas other South Africans who committed lesser crimes, such as theft, were given 12-15 years in prison.
The African National Congress Women's League spokesperson, Jacqui Mofokeng, slammed the sentence, "The judgment is an insult to women. It's an insult we saw coming a mile off and an increasingly mundane insult to which we have all become accustomed. We owe Reeva Steenkamp and women everywhere our outrage today, however subdued and demoralized we might feel. Because we known, deep down, that six years for murder isn't just insulting. It's dangerous."
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Oscar Pistorius sentencing: Live updates as six-year sentence is dubbed an 'insult to women' by equality campaigners
Updated 16:31, 6 Jul 2016 - Oscar Pistorius has been jailed for six years for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp this morning. The Olympic and Paralympic icon repeatedly shot the 29-year-old model after she barricaded herself in the bathroom of his home in Pretoria on February 2013. He appeared at North Gauteng High Court this morning after a three-and-a-half year legal battle.
During sentencing Judge Thokozile Masipa said there was no evidence that Ms Steenkamp and Pistorius had rowed on the night he gunned her down. “Counsel for the defence correctly submitted that there was an unfortunate perception in the minds of some people that on the night of the murder there was an argument between the accused and the deceased and that this is what led to the murder of the deceased,” she said.
“The existence of such a perception was inadvertently confirmed by the father of the deceased Barry Steenkamp‚ who‚ during the course of his evidence‚ let slip this very perception.” “The unfortunate part of it is that there is not a shred of evidence placed before this court that supports such a perception.”...
http://www.mirror.co.uk
African National Congress spokesperson: Oscar Pistorius sentence 'insulting'
African National Congress spokesperson: Oscar Pistorius sentence 'insulting'
11:53 a.m. EDT July 6, 2016 - South African Judge Thokozile Masipa said “there is no indication at all” that former Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius and the girlfriend he murdered were in an abusive relationship. African National Congress Women’s League spokesperson Jacqui Mofokeng, however, called the Valentine’s Day 2013 murder of Reeva Steenkamp a clear case of gender violence shortly after Masipa found “substantial and compelling circumstances” to levy Pistorius with a six-year prison term, a fraction of the mandatory 15-year prison sentence.
“The judgment is an insult to women,” Mofokeng said in a statement. “It’s an insult we saw coming a mile off (and an) increasingly mundane insult to which we have all become accustomed. “We owe Reeva Steenkamp and women everywhere our outrage today, however subdued and demoralized we might feel. Because we know, deep down, that six years for murder isn’t just insulting. It’s dangerous.”...
