#OscarPistorius arrives at court
Oscar Pistorius has arrived at the High Court in Pretoria for sentencing on his murder conviction.
|||Pretoria - Oscar Pistorius arrived at the High Court in Pretoria on Monday for sentencing on his murder conviction.
Pistorius sat in the dock with his head bowed. His brother Carl and uncle Arnold were also present in the packed court.
Proceedings were set to begin at 10am on Monday and run until Friday.
Pistorius’s sentencing this week will bring to a close a marathon legal battle over the shooting of his girlfriend and model Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
Pistorius, a six-time Paralympic champion and the world's first double-leg amputee to race in the Olympics, is expected to be handed a lengthy jail term for murder after his original culpable homicide conviction was overturned last December.
On February 14, 2013 Pistorius was accused of murdering Steenkamp, 29, after her body was found in his bathroom. Media reported that Steenkamp was planning a surprise for Pistorius on Valentine's Day, but he mistook her for a robber.
The runner admitted that he killed his girlfriend in an accident. Investigators almost immediately presented a different version of events, as neighbours heard a loud quarrel in Pistorius's house and called the police two hours before the tragedy.
Medics and police arrived at the crime scene in his Pretoria house between 4am and 5am. According to police, Steenkamp had sustained gunshot wounds to her head and one of her hands. A 9 mm pistol licensed to Pistorius was found at the scene.
On February 15, 2013 Pistorius stood before the court for the first time. He was accused of premeditated murder but pleaded not guilty. According to his account, he woke up in the middle of the night and went to get a fan from the balcony. On his return to the bedroom he heard sounds from the bathroom and thought that a robber had entered the house through a window.
Pistorius said he always kept a handgun under a pillow after he was threatened with murder. He retrieved it and made his way into the bathroom. Without switching on the light, he shot several times at the bathroom door, shouting at his girlfriend to call the police.
Only when he heard no answer did he suspect that Steenkamp might have been in the bathroom. After knocking in the door with a cricket bat, Pistorius found her covered in blood but still alive. He lifted her up and carried to the bed, but she died in his arms.
On February 19, 2013 prosecutor Gerrie Nel charged Pistorius with premeditated murder. He was soon released on bail of R1 million. The court ordered him to stay in the country and check in at a police station twice a week.
In March 2014, a Pretoria court began reviewing the facts of the Pistorius case after hearings were suspended twice. On June 30, 2014 psychiatrists determined that Pistorius was fully responsible for his actions at the time of the shooting.
In the defence's closing statement on August 7, Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux said that the State prosecution did not present facts that could prove Pistorius's actions were intentional and that for this reason he could only be charged with murder.
In September 2014, Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled that the athlete could not be accused of premeditated murder. Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide and kept on bail until his five-year jail term was announced on October 21, 2014. He was also banned from competing in the Paralympics until 2019.
After serving a year at Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, Pistorius was released on parole on October 19, 2015 to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest in his uncle's mansion in a wealthy Pretoria neighbourhood.
Following the culpable homicide verdict, the State appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn Judge Masipa's ruling. Prosecutors claimed there was a criminal intent behind Pistorius's decision to shoot at the bathroom door and it did not matter who was behind it. The defense argued the athlete believed he was in danger.
On November 3, 2015 the Supreme Court of Appeal heard the case but reserved the judgment until December 3 when it overturned the culpable homicide verdict, upgrading it to murder. The court ruled that Judge Masipa had erred on several occasions, mainly that Pistorius had not foreseen the deadly results of his actions (dolus eventualis).
On December 8, Judge Audrey Ledwaba ruled that the 29-year-old was not a flight risk. Pistorius was granted bail of R10 000 and allowed to remain under house arrest pending the sentence.
In January 2016, the athlete's defence team lodged an appeal at the Constitutional Court. On March 3, the top court rejected the motion against the murder conviction, saying Pistorius shot to kill.
On April 18, Judge Aubrey Ledwaba announced the date of the new sentencing hearing, which is June 13-18. Pistorius now faces a possible minimum prison sentence of 15 years, although his defense team may ask the court to consider his disability and the time he has already served as mitigating circumstances.
Sputnik, Reuters and IOL