Popular South African double amputee athlete, Oscar Pistorius will spend his first day prison on Tuesday after he was jailed for five years for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Delivering the judgement, Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled that a non-custodial sentence would send the wrong message to the community, but a long sentence would also not be appropriate either, as it would lack the element of mercy.
The 27-year-old, who was found guilty of culpable homicide last month, was also handed a suspended three-year prison sentence for the discharging of a firearm in a restaurant.
“What may appear to be justice to the general public may not be justice. Society cannot always get what they want,” Masipa said.
Reeva’s mother, June Steenkamp, said the sentence brought a sort of closure, but that full closure was not possible “unless you can magic her back”.
