Pretoria - “Min dae” (few days), “the final stretch”, were the words on the lips of photographers and journalists huddled outside the High Court in Pretoria on Friday ahead of the fifth day of Oscar Pistorius's sentencing procedures.
“Yesterday was 47 days and 43 witnesses in total,” said one radio journalist as they tried to remember how long paralympian Pistorius had been on trial for.
Both the State and defence were expected to deliver their sentencing arguments before Judge Thokozile Masipa on Friday.
She needs to decide if he will spend time in jail after finding him guilty of culpable homicide for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead last year.
With the end of the matter in sight, nobody seemed to mind the chilly wind whipping down Madiba Street outside the high court.
On the bus shelter outside the court, someone had written a message in a black marker apparently intended for Pistorius.
“We will always honour your talent. Prison, it's not the end!”
Friday morning's topics of conversation included Mikey Schultz swearing on air during a radio interview on Thursday night and the Brett Kebble killer being accused of swearing at Pistorius's sister Aimee in court earlier that day.
According to a tweet published by The Star newspaper on Friday morning, one person speculated, jokingly, that Schultz had merely been trying to hit on Aimee Pistorius.
Comedian Deep Fried Man tweeted: “Mikey Schultz has arrived at the Oscar sentencing. Just in case there weren't enough people who've gotten away with murder in the room”.
Media monitoring organisation Return on Innovation Africa said on Friday morning that Schultz, who got immunity from prosecution for the killing of mining magnate Kebble, stole 30 percent of Pistorius's usual media and social network coverage over the last 24 hours. - Sapa