Pretoria - Criminal law expert William Booth believes Oscar Pistorius should regard himself as “quite fortunate” for receiving just six years for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The former paralympian was sentenced in the North Gauteng High Court by Judge Thokozile Masipa on Wednesday.
He has already spent a year behind bars for a culpable homicide conviction. That conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein and converted to murder in December last year.
Booth said the judge took into account the fact that he had already served one year in prison, but the sentence was “less than what legal pundits were expecting”.
He said “the general feeling looking at everything was that he could have gotten between nine and ten years”.
But, Booth said “no jail sentence is easy” and Pistorius would have a difficult time, particularly because of his disability.
“He’s never going to be able to do what he was brilliant at, and that was being an athlete. I think he’s quite fortunate. I think its a fairly lenient sentence. He could potentially be released after three years, which a parole board would decide looking at a variety of factors such as rehabilitation, victim impact, and reintegration into society”.
Pistorius received nine years less than the minimum sentence of fifteen years, as the judge found that mitigating factors outweighed aggravating factors.
He will be eligible to apply for parole in 2019. His lawyers have confirmed that he will not be appealing his sentence.
African News Agency