South Africa | Pistorius prosecutor knocks athlete’s charity at sentencing

Oscar Pistorius leaves the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria

The prosecutor in Oscar Pistorius’s trial for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp said the athlete’s charity work was aimed at self-promotion and shouldn’t influence his sentence for manslaughter.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel made the argument yesterday at the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, during cross-examination of Pistorius’s manager, Peet Van Zyl, who described the athlete’s charitable works for organizations such as the United Nations Children’s Fund.
“The fact is that it’s merely an advancement of your career to become involved,” Nel said.
“One can perceive it as that,” Van Zyl responded. “I think that a lot of sportsmen actually want to make a difference and contribute.”
Judge Thokozile Masipa, 66, will hand down the sentence after defense attorney Barry Roux and Nel finish calling witnesses. His punishment could be as many as 15 years in prison and as little as a fine.
Masipa cleared Pistorius, 27, of murder charges before convicting him of culpable homicide for killing Steenkamp when he fired four hollow-point bullets through a toilet door in his house in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year. Pistorius said he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.
Annette Vergeer, a probation officer and social worker, told the court yesterday that Pistorius, a double amputee, shouldn’t be sent to prison. She recommended a sentence of house arrest.
“The exposure of the accused to the inmates on his stumps will have severe negative effects on the accused,” she said. “The impact of imprisonment on the person who has never before been in conflict with the law will be experienced as devastating.”
Monday, Roux called Pistorius’s psychologist, Lore Hartzenberg, to testify. She said Pistorius needed ongoing psychological therapy and that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, was guilt-ridden and was devastated by “constant negative attacks against him.”
“We are left with a broken man who has lost everything,” Hartzenberg said. “He’s unlikely to fully recover from the consequences of the shooting incident.”
Joel Maringa, a social worker at the prisons department, told the court he recommended a sentence of correctional supervision, which may include house arrest and community service, for three years. Pistorius’s community tasks may include 16 hours a month of work such as cleaning.
“That is shockingly inappropriate,” Nel responded.
A sentence of correctional supervision would mean that he would be “placed under the authority of a correctional officer who can basically visit his house or check on him whenever he or she wants,” Marius du Toit, a Pretoria-based criminal-defense lawyer, said by phone.
During his cross-examination, Nel said that while Pistorius was a broken man, “he’s still alive.”
Known as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped prosthetic running blades, Pistorius was the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics. His trial drew a worldwide audience and derailed the running career of the winner of six Paralympic gold medals.
After his conviction, Masipa extended his bail of 1 million rand (USD90,000). Pistorius will be free to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as long as the judge doesn’t hand down a multiple year jail term, South Africa’s Olympic Committee said last month. Christopher Spillane
and Paul Burkhardt
Bloomberg