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Blade-runner Oscar Pistorius to be sentenced in June

Blade-runner Oscar Pistorius to be sentenced in June

South Africa

The sentencing hearing of former South Africa’s double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp will be held in June.

The defence and prosecution teams will have five days to argue their case out between June 13 and 17.

South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal overturned an earlier conviction of culpable homicide, which attracts a sentence of only five years and instead found the athlete guilty of murder.

Pistorius shot and killed Steenkamp at his house on Valentine’s Day in 2013.

The athlete has throughout his trial maintained that he thought there was an intruder who had entered his home through his bathroom window.

He spent a year in jail and underwent numerous offender programmes which his legal representative Barry Roux is likely to use as a reason why his client shouldn’t be sent back to prison.

Oscar Pistorius was released last year to serve the rest of his sentence under house detention at his uncle’s home in Pretoria.

He is subject to at least fifteen years imprisonment because he is a first-time offender.

Reuters

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