Pretoria High Court sentences Oscar Pistorius for 6 YEARS for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

SOUTH AFRICA: Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius was on, July 5, whisked out of the Pretoria High Court to begin serving his fresh six-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 13 2013.

Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide and served a year of a five-year prison tern before being released on parole last year.

An appeal by the prosecution in the Supreme Court of Appeal saw that conviction and sentence set aside last year and replaced with the murder conviction.

According to the law‚ Pistorius must serve half of his term before he could be considered for placement on parole.

Judge Thokozile Masipa had earlier sentenced the Paralympian and double-amputee to a six-year prison term on Wednesday morning and departed from the prescribed 15-year jail term.

Masipa said there were compelling and substantial circumstances which allowed her to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence.

READ: Here's how double amputee and paralympian Oscar Pistorius described the fatal shooting of Reeva Steenkamp in an exclusive interview with Britain’s ITV Mark Williams Thomas