Oscar Pistorius Sentencing Postponed to June
Oscar Pistorius killed his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day three years ago, saying he mistook her for an intruder.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: April 18, 2016 04:48 pm IST
Highlights
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Oscar Pistorius is often called the fastest man on no legs
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He has won six Paralympic golds
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Pistorius girlfriend shot his girlfriend on February 14, 2013
Disgraced South African athlete Oscar Pistorius' sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp will be handed down in June, a judge said during a brief hearing in Pretoria on Monday. (Reeva Steenkamp's Mother Moves on as Oscar Pistorius Deals With Punishment)
Pistorius' lawyers last month failed in their final legal bid to reverse a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling that upgraded his conviction from culpable homicide -- the equivalent of manslaughter -- to murder. (South African Prosecutors Oppose Oscar Pistorius' Final Appeal)
The double-amputee killed Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, on Valentine's Day three years ago, saying he mistook her for an intruder when he shot four times through the door of his bedroom toilet.
"Your matter is postponed until June 13, and it will be heard until June 17, do you understand?" Judge Aubrey Ledwaba asked Pistorius, who answered "Yes".
Pistorius, wearing a black suit, black tie and white shirt, left the court and walked through a scrum of television camera crews outside to get into a vehicle.
The former Paralympic champion, 29, faces a minimum 15-year jail term for murder, which may be reduced due to time he has already spent in prison.
He was released from prison in October to live under house arrest at his uncle's property in Pretoria after serving one year of his five-year prison sentence for culpable homicide.
The SCA judges in December described his testimony at his trial in 2014 as "untruthful" and delivered a damning indictment of the original verdict.
They found him guilty of murder, overruling the culpable homicide conviction.