Oscar Pistorius, right, sits with defense lawyer Brian Webber prior to his third day of mitigation of sentencing at the high court in Pretoria
The prosecutor in Oscar Pistorius’s trial for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp said her parents rejected his offer to pay them 375,000 rand (USD34,000) he got for selling a car because they didn’t want “blood money”.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel made the announcement during Pistorius’s sentencing hearing for his manslaughter conviction of Steenkamp at the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital. Nel said the Steenkamps planned to repay the 6,000 rand a month Pistorius paid them since March last year, a month after the athlete killed Reeva on Valentine’s Day.
“I can put on record and I’ll lead evidence if I have to that those monies will be paid back to the accused in full, every cent,” Nel said.
Nel discussed the payments while cross-examining parole officer Annette Vergeer, the second witness called by defense lawyer Barry Roux to argue that Pistorius should be sentenced to three years’ house arrest with community service instead of a prison term.
Vergeer said South Africa’s prison system couldn’t provide the facilities Pistorius, a double amputee, would need.
“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.”
South Africa’s correctional-services department disputed Vergeer’s assertion, saying its prisons “can cater for disabled inmates,” the South African Press Association quoted spokesman Mthungzi Mhaga as saying yesterday.
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. The hearing adjourned and will resume today.
Masipa cleared Pistorius 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. Pistorius said he thought Steenkamp was an intruder. Christopher Spillane and Paul Burkhardt, Bloomberg
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