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Oscar Pistorius is sentenced for murder of Reeva Steenkamp – live
Oscar Pistorius: judge will not impose 15-year minimum sentence – live
(35 minutes later)
8.53am BST
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09:29
June and Barry Steenkamp are once again hearing in court the details of their daughter’s death.
Masipa says she is not convinced by the evidence given by Scholtz that Pistorius ought to be hospitalised.
Masipa recounts evidence that witnesses on the scene in the aftermath of the shooting believed Pistorius’ distress to be genuine.
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Pistorius has already spent time in prison, Masipa says.
Masipa moves on to the circumstances of the murder. She says it is important to consider these in every case.
The court heard evidence that he struggled as an inmate. But she does not accept that he was “vilified” or treated badly by prison officials.
Murder is always a very serious crime.
But on reports that he was aggressive to prison staff, Masipa says”
That the accused thought it was an intruder does not make it any less serious.
[Being] quick-tempered does not necessarily mean he is a violent person.
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Scholtz “did not fare well under cross-examination”, Masipa says.
The rehabilitation programmes may not be sufficient now that Pistorius’ conviction has been upgraded to murder, the judge says.
He could not back up some of the claims made, about the prison experience or claims that medication was withheld from Pistorius in prison.
(He undertook them when serving his sentence for culpable homicide.)
But she says she did find Scholtz a truthful witness.
But she says it indicates that he is a “good candidate for rehabilitation”.
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The judge says Scholtz’s report argued that Pistorius had suffered from media attention and negative experiences in prison, such as overhearing the rape of an inmate and witnessing his subsequent hanging.
The defence wants a non-custodial sentence, Masipa says. They cited workshops on anger management as proof he had been rehabilitated.
But she says, these were “not supported by anything concrete”. Evidence from a prison employee suggested it was not possible for him to have witnessed this, Masipa says.
But deterrence and retribution are just as important, she says.
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Masipa recites evidence given during the sentencing hearing that Pistorius has sold all his firearms and does not want to use a gun ever again.
Masipa accepts the case put forward by the defence that there are “two Oscars” – the successful athlete and the vulnerable disabled man.
8.46am BST
(See here for more on the “two Oscars” evidence.)
08:46
But this is not the only factor for her to consider, she goes on.
Pistorius looks solemn as Masipa outlines his mother’s anxiety around crime, and her death when he was a teenager.
Scholtz’s report, she reads, says Pistorius’ childhood experiences made “him aware of his own and his family’s vulnerability to crime”.
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The judge now turns to what she calls his “personal circumstances”. It’s essentially a rundown of his family and career history, by now well rehearsed in this courtroom.
She notes that he has no previous convictions.
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Masipa skips through the evidence given by the two other defence witnesses, who testified to Pistorius’ charity work and his desire to work in future with children.
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Scholtz found that Pistorius displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and was not well enough to testify in the sentencing proceedings.
(Pistorius did not give evidence in those hearings last month.)
Masipa notes that Scholtz was of the opinion that Pistorius ought to be hospitalised.
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Among the factors she needs to consider, Masipa says, she must decide whether there is any cause not to impose the 15-year minimum sentence.
She says she has considered all the evidence but will not set it all out in detail now.
She will talk about the evidence given by defence witness Professor Jonathan Scholtz, a clinical psychologist who reported on Pistorius’ mental state.
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Masipa begins by setting out the process so far: the original finding, the appeal and the decision by the supreme court to overturn the first verdict and substitute one of murder.
It is for this court now to impose the appropriate sentence for murder, she says.
Updated
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at 9.24am BST
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Sentencing begins
Masipa is speaking at length about what she calls the “misperception” that Pistorius intended to kill Steenkamp and the duty of the court to correct that view.
Judge Thokozile Masipa is in the courtroom and the hearing is starting.
Public opinion may be loud and persistent but it can play no role in the decision of this court.
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Pistorius will be sentenced today by the same judge who presided over his original trial, Thokozile Masipa.
#OscarPistorius listening on as sentence is handed down. pic.twitter.com/nZp4DnCrmL
Having initially found him guilty of culpable homicide – and clearing him of murder – Masipa sentenced Pistorius in September 2014 to five years in prison. He served 10 months in Kgosi Mampuru prison, before being released (in accordance with parole regulations) under house arrest conditions. He has lived at the home of his aunt and uncle, Lois and Arnold Pistorius, ever since.
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Although the minimum sentence for murder is 15 years, Masipa does have discretion to cut this, or to suspend part of the sentence.
09:19
She could, for example, deduct all or part of the original sentence served.
Masipa: Our courts are courts of law, not courts of public opinion.
The defence also argued that she ought to make allowance for Pistorius’ disability – he had both lower limbs amputated as a child – and his other vulnerabilities, including anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
She says “public indignation” must be based on facts.
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Wrong perceptions exist in this case, she says, and it is the duty of the court to correct it “to prevent unjustified outrage from the public”.
08:20
9.16am BST
Oscar Pistorius and his legal team are in the courtroom, along with several members of the Pistorius family.
09:16
Barry and June Steenkamp, the parents of Reeva Steenkamp, are also there.
Masipa outlines what she finds are the “substantial and compelling circumstances” for reducing the 15-year minimum sentence.
#OscarPistorius hugging family as he waits for proceedings to start.MV pic.twitter.com/1fKOnhb94L
(She has not yet said what the sentence will be.)
8.14am BST
She says Pistorius was on his stumps and was vulnerable.
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She accepts that the pain of the Steenkamp family is “real and it is tangible”.
The state case: 15 years must be the minimum
But she says the “misperception” persists that Pistorius intended to kill Reeva Steenkamp and that “cannot be ignored”.
She is just as important as the personal circumstances of the accused … She can never walk in court.
9.13am BST
Forgiveness has more to do with the person forgiving than with the crime.
09:13
8.07am BST
Judge says she will not impose 15-year minimum sentence
08:07
Masipa says mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating ones, and there are compelling reasons to deviate from the 15-year minimum.
The defence case: no more prison time
9.12am BST
I don’t want to overplay vulnerability … I don’t want to overplay disability … It doesn’t mean because he’s vulnerable that he can do what he likes. That’s not what we say.
09:12
But when we’re entering the field of sentencing, look at that man’s conduct … Please let’s understand … who is this man that you must sentence?
Judge: Pistorius 'genuinely remorseful'
Punishment is not meant to break the defendant … The accused does not fall into the category of offender who should be removed from society.
The state said Pistorius showed no remorse, Masipa notes.
It was not the man winning gold medals that must be judged … It was a 1.5-metre person, standing on his stumps, three o’clock in the morning when it was dark.
I disagree.
How must you feel when you fire those shots that you should not have, and it’s your own girlfriend?
She says he apologised in court, having “previously and unsuccessfully” trying to contact the Steenkamp family privately, more than once.
No other accused has ever had to endure this level of publicity, misinformation and character assassination.
She interprets this as undermining any notion that he apologised as a “ploy”.
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She says he would only persist in his efforts to apologise to the family because “he was genuinely remorseful”.
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9.10am BST
Opening summary
09:10
Claire Phipps
The mitigating factors
Today – more than three years after Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead – Oscar Pistorius will be sentenced for her murder.
Turning to mitigating factors, Masipa says Pistorius was vulnerable without his protheses. He believed the person in the bathroom was an intruder. He “immediately took steps to try to save the deceased’s life”.
The former athlete could face up to 15 years in prison, after his original conviction for culpable homicide – and subsequent five-year sentence – was overturned on appeal and replaced with a finding that he was guilty of murder.
9.08am BST
In a three-day sentencing hearing last month, Judge Thokozile Masipa was told by the defence that “there is no purpose served” by sending Pistorius back to prison. (He previously served 10 months of his original sentence and has lived since September 2015 under house arrest conditions at his uncle’s home in Pretoria.)
09:08
But chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued that the judge must start at the minimum sentence of 15 years.
The aggravating factors
The North Gauteng high court in Pretoria is due to convene shortly. We will have all the developments here.
Masipa says the more uneasy a court feels about a sentence, the more likely it is that an injustice can be perpetrated.
Comments will not be switched on for the live blog but do feel free to contact me via Twitter @Claire_Phipps with comments and questions.
She now turns to the aggravating factors in this case. Pistorius used a lethal weapon, with high-grade ammunition, and fired four times, “knowing full well” there was someone in the bathroom.
He did not take the precaution of firing a warning shot.
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09:06
She says it is incumbent on the court to consider whether any sentence is proportionate to the offence, taking into account the seriousness of the crime and the culpability of the offender.
To deviate from the minimum sentence, she says, it must take into account the particular circumstances of the case; she mentions those “substantial and compelling circumstances” again.
Masipa has not yet given an indication of whether she thinks there are “substantial and compelling circumstances” in this case.
9.04am BST
09:04
#OscarPistorius It sounds like Judge is starting from base minimum of fifteen years and may work her way down from there
9.02am BST
09:02
Masipa says the court is obliged to impose the minimum sentence of 15 years unless there are “substantial and compelling” reasons to reduce it.
She says it is up to the court to decide what constitutes “substantial and compelling” circumstances.
