PRETORIA: Disgraced former paralympian and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has paid in many ways for the murder of
his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, his attorney Barry Roux SC told the high court in Pretoria in mitigation of sentence on Wednesday.
"The following mitigating factors exist - we say the accused (Pistorius) has lost all of his assets, and his career is gone.
The accused can never, ever resume his career.
"The accused has punished himself and will (continue to) punish himself for the rest of his life far more than any court of law can punish him," Roux said while addressing Judge Thokozile Masipa in the packed court.
Roux said it was understandable that "in the context of grief and a belief that the shooting was a result of anger", some people continue to call for Pistorius's punishment and they find it "very difficult" to forgive. "We must also look at the other side. There is a flip side. The accused has paid from the minute he fired the shots, and will pay for this for the rest of his life. It's not going away. He lost his future with his loved one.
He has paid physically - losing his health. He has paid emotionally. He is a shell of the man he was. He is a broken man," said Roux.
"He has paid financially; he is left being dependent on others. He has paid socially; he is judged and vilified by many and verbally attacked. He has paid by loss of his identity."
Pistorius wept openly on Wednesday as he removed his prosthetic legs and moved around the courtroom while his lawyer
tried to prove his vulnerability the night he shot Steenkamp. He has maintained that he mistook her for a burglar on the morning of Valentine's Day, 2013.
"It's 3 o'clock in the morning. It's dark. He's on his stumps. That's all common cause. He suffers from anxiety disorder. We know that the untested evidence (was) that, when he was on his stumps, his balance was seriously compromised. On his own, he would not have been able to defend himself," said Roux. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said the court should not be unduly sympathetic when
sentencing Pistorius.
He told the court that Pistorius had lived in the hospital wing of the prison where he spent a year behind bars. "It was not solitary confinement of 18 hours a day", as psychologist Jonathan Scholtz testified earlier this week, he added.
"We have an accused who was in a wing with one other prisoner, had access to a makeshift gym, and he could walk around." He is calling for the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years for murder for the former track star.
On Tuesday, Reeva's father Barry Steenkamp demanded justice, saying it was difficult for him to forgive Pistorius. "It's been very difficult for me to forgive.
"But I feel the same, that Oscar has to pay for what he did, and that is all. How he pays is up to the courts. "We will go by the decision that the court hands down to Oscar. But he has to pay for his
crime," he said emotionally.
African News Agency