Oscar's future in the balance

Pistorius’s prison time for murder to be handed down by Judge Masipa

THE NEXT 15 years or more of Oscar Pistorius’s life hang in the balance as he heads to the Northern Gauteng High Court today to begin his sentencing for murder. Pistorius has a final date with Judge Thokozile Masipa in the same Pretoria courthouse where she presided over his 7-month murder trial two years ago.

This is his second sentencing since that fatal Valentine’s Day in 2013 when he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through the closed door of the toilet in his home.

In 2014, Judge Masipa acquitted Pistorius of murder and found him guilty of culpable homicide, saying he acted recklessly but without the intent to kill. She sentenced him to five years in jail.

Since then, the former Paralympian has served one year in jail and around eight months under house arrest after he was released on parole last October.

But in December, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that Pistorius’s days in prison may be far from over.

A panel of judges decided that instead of being sentenced for culpable homicide, Pistorius should have been found guilty of murder – a conviction which carries a minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment.

Supreme Court Justice Lorimer Leach said: “The accused ought to have been found guilty of murder on the basis that he had fired the fatal shots with criminal intent.”

Today, Pistorius will once again face Judge Masipa hoping for leniency as she hands down his sentence for murder.

This is the end of the road for Pistorius, who has exhausted all his legal options. After his conviction was changed to murder at the end of last year, he appealed to the Constitutional Court to review the decision. But the highest court in the land dismissed this appeal in March, and Pistorius now has no option but to face the sentence for murder.

In a statement before the sentencing hearing, Pistorius’s family said they did not know “what the future holds for Oscar after this week”.

Legal experts say a judge can reduce the 15-year minimum sentence in some circumstances and that Pistorius’s disability and the fact that he is a first-time offender could be taken into account.

Masipa may also take into account the time Pistorius has already spent behind bars.