...to feel terrible for Reeva Steenkamp's parents as once again her murderer Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to far less than the mandatory minimum?

[Proginoskes]

I've just watched the sentencing live. He was sentenced by the same judge who erred in the first case and caused it to be sent back for review. Supposedly the mandatory minimum for murder, the crime for which he was convicted, is fifteen years, however Judge Thokozile Masipa gave him...six. Six years for pumping four high-powered rounds through a bathroom door at a person whose identity he claimed not to know, a person who he knew had nowhere to hide from those rounds. To top it all off as Reeva Steenkamp's poor parents sat there they had to hear their daughter repeatedly referred to as "the deceased" without even the courtesy and dignity of her name.

I do hope there's a procedure for judicial recall in SA and this judge gets to go through it. So much blatant favouritism through both trials and sentencing phases, it makes me ill.

YANBU. He's a vile little man and an awful actor.

He's all about 'me me me' and not a thought for Reeva's family.

I couldn't believe he had the gaul to claim that Reeva wouldn't have wanted him to 'waste his life in prison'. How the fuck does he know what she would or wouldn't have wanted under the circumstances?

Wanker.

I don't get it either.

If there is a minimum sentence it should be just that.

Also the judge apparently insisted that he didn't murder Reeva on purpose. However be was clearly aiming and shooting to kill someone so the argument to more than half the minimum sentence doesn't make sense.

The judge got the sentencing wrong the first time (as clearly shown in the appeal) she shouldn't have been allowed to sentence again.

I agree that there should of been a different judge. I do hope that the prosecution files an appeal. It's disgusting. So is it going to be another few months in prison, then released back to his uncles house ?

That is shocking! No way should it have been the same judge. Her parents must be devastated!!

It's disgusting. I can't believe they allowed the same judge to preside over this case again, she was very obviously biased and incompetent.

What's the point of having a mandatory minimum if it's not mandatory?

Disgusting little man, I hope Reeva's poor parents are OK.

I hope he appeals the sentence, in which case he will probably end up with the mandatory minimum.
I am genuinely shocked by the sentencing. There is a mandatory minimum for a reason.

The only small crumb of comfort is that time already served doesn't count so there is no offset for the time served for manslaugher.

Not only is it blatantly racist, but it is biased sentencing like this that fuels accusations of people "playing the disability card".

The judge should be sacked and Pistorius should have life.

How is it racist?

Because a white man has a fraction of the sentence a black man would get in the same scenario?

In South Africa?

I thought the very definition of murder was 'on purpose'? What else is manslaughter for?

How can a judge sentence to less than the mandatory minimum?

Baffled.

Horrific. Reeva's family must be destroyed again. Something stinks about this.

It's made SA justice look like an oxymoron.

He is a famous, rich white man.

You are raising an interesting point about "playing the disability card". I have Asperger's and helped campaign for Gary McKinnon not to be extradited for hacking the Pentagon. There is now a very similar case, Lauri Love, which is going through the courts at the moment. Lauri also has Asperger's and this probably contributed to his fascination with computers and the hacking offences. It is a tough one because Asperger's should not be a "get out of jail free" card, however it should be taken into account in sentencing.

I thought the judge was very much on his side today. How devastating for poor Reeva,s family. Oscar is one egotistical person, only concerned with himself. So all the sentence is Just one more year than he originally got sentenced ! Dosent make sense to me.

Apparently that's the maximum sentence!

The African justice system is fucked up, 6 or less years- he'll be free!! It's an absolute insult, not only to Reeva's family and friends but also to Reeva's memory!!

Absolutely awful and devestating for poor Reeva's parents and family. It's a disgrace and an insult. Free in just six years for murder

mrgrouper, your example seems to demonstrate quite clearly the difference between "legitimate use of disability as an explanation" and "totally irrelevant look at poor me use of disability"

If disability is to be used in mitigation, it should only be taken into account if relevant to the crime committed.

Since Pistorius was quite clearly capable, disabled or not, of quietly making his exit from the flat if he believed a burglar was locked in the bathroom (and his girlfriend had mysteriously vanished in a puff of smoke), his decision to advance towards the place he claims he believed the burglar was hiding in, and shoot round after round through the door, has nothing to do with his disability, and everything to do with him being a murderous bastard.

You could see how Aspergers could contribute to an obsession with computers, but it is seriously difficult to see how missing limbs would contribute to a tendency to shoot people dead.

He should have got the 15 years.

He's been found guilty of murder. That's it. Whether he thought it was Reeva or an intruder is irrelevant. He murdered the person behind the door. He shot to kill. That has been proved.

Obviously all his poor little me tactics worked on the judge.

Either me, or that judge, have me meaning of minimum wrong. I thought it meant "not less than".
WTAF?

"demonstrate quite clearly the difference between "legitimate use of disability as an explanation" and "totally irrelevant look at poor me use of disability" ..."

Yy. I am disabled (and have asd too mrG :) ) and I am very uncomfortable with the potential precedent set by this. I think it minimises the believability of real cases (like eg Gary McKinnon), as everyone knows Pistorius is just trying it on. Does that make sense?

Also baffled.
Why the same Judge?
Why so blatantly less than the mandatory minimum?
It is proved he shot to kill. Proven murder.

I accidentally was flicking channels recently and saw him going around the courtroom in tears on his stumps. Obviously his disability is a tragedy for him but I was very uneasy about the way he was playing on in and I had to switch it off.

And everything Cory has said better than me about this.

I feel so sad for Reeva and her parents.

He's an awful man. I hadn't seen the new sentence until this thread but I can't say I'm surprised. Poor Reeva had her whole life ahead. It breaks my heart.

It makes you wonder what kind of sentencing goes on for men who murder their partners in relationships that aren't in the public eye. A lot lower I would guess.