BY GAVIN MACKINTOSH
Oscar Pistorius got off lightly with only six years for murder. The amputee, who shot his girlfriend four times and killed her, was initially convicted of manslaughter.
However, a further application for murder was successfully admitted by the courts. Pistorius was eventually convicted of murder, but given only a six year sentence for his sentencing today. Apparently because it won’t serve justice, according to the judge. Reality is that Pistorius got off lightly.
An extra consideration was the fact Pistorius had undergone rehabilitation and also shown remorse. Yet, we are talking of murder, a clearly defined offence with a stipulated sentence of life imprisonment. How that sentence was so drastically reduced to what effectively is a 3 year sentence (Pistorius will only serve half of the 6 year term).
The general legal punishment for murder is life imprisonment, restricted in practice to 25, 20, or in unusual cases, 15 years. 6 years resembles a joke, funny only to the fool.
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Pistorius murdered Reeva steenkamp at his home in South Africa in the early hours if Valentines day, in 2014. The judge originally convicted him for manslaughter, but a higher court reversed that decision. Today’s court hearing was for sentencing. It went badly for the victim, and her family.
Escaping so lightly on grounds of empathy, or rehabilitation is a ridicule of the law. Since when did empathy or rehabilitation become a consideration for deciding the legal punishment for murder?
No wonder protests of favoritism due to wealth is perceived to be what saved Oscar Pistorius from the punishment he deserved.This is not necessarily true, since empathy may truly but wrongly have played a key factor. Whatever, the reason, Oscar pistorius got off lightly with only 6 years for murder. Justice doesn’t seem to have been served.
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