Just yesterday, on 21 October 2014, Oscar Pistorius received a prison sentence of maximum five years under the charge of culpable homicide. The case is from February 2013, where allegedly he shot and killed his own girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a South African model, at his home in Pretoria, South Africa.
Oscar Pistorius, or known as the 'Blade Runner', because of his carbon-fiber running blades, is an athlete who won six Paralympic gold medals. These also made him known to be the fastest man running on no legs. He was also the first amputee runner to compete at Olympic Games, where he managed to appeal for qualification into Olympic 2012 in London. He have a long standing career as a sprint runner since Paralympic Games 2004 in Athens
His trial for the murder began on 3rd March 2014 in Pretoria. Although he acknowledged that he shot Reeva and causing her death, he insist that he mistook her to be a house intruder. The day that the incident took place, it was Valentine's Day. There was a possibility that her girlfriend wanted to give him a surprise for such occasion.
However, the case became a public outcry due to many factors such as the possession of firearm in the first place. Oscar also shot whom he though an intruder through his bathroom door, raising suspicion whether or not he deliberately unleashed the shots. Reeva Steenkamp was also shot several times with hollow point bullets.
Another factor was that some South Africans people raised the concern that Oscar might received leniency because he was rich and famous. Some of them even surprised that even though Oscar was acquitted with the murder, he was instead convicted with lesser crime of culpable homicide, or negligent homicide. The concern was that it would create a new precedent for future crime, where someone who shot a bullet through a closed door without knowing the person on the other side would not be accounted as murder.
Currently, Oscar Pistorius is serving his sentence in the Pretoria Central Prison.
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| Oscar Pistorius and his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. |
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