Prison not recommended for Oscar
Oscar Pistorius should be sentenced to three years correctional services and perform 16 hours of community service a month for causing the shooting death of model Reeva Steenkamp, the Gauteng High Court heard.
A suitable sentence for Oscar Pistorius will be three years of correctional supervision, a social worker employed by the department of correctional services has recommended to the North Gauteng High Court.
He should also serve 16 hours of community service – eight hours a day twice a month during this period – as punishment for causing the death of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year, Joel Masinga testified.
Pistorius, convicted of culpable homicide following the shooting death of Steenkamp, would benefit from correctional supervision, Masinga told the court. He had been requested by Pistorius’ defence team to compile a sentencing report to establish if the former Olympic athlete was a suitable candidate for correctional supervision.
Responding to the recommendation, state prosecutor Gerrie Nel said a three year correctional supervision sentence would be “shockingly inappropriate” in this case. Masinga said he had based his recommendation on the finding of the court that Pistorius was guilty of culpable homicide and not murder and that the court had found the double amputee had no intention of shooting Steenkamp.
During cross-examination Nel pointed out that Masinga’s recommendation had been based on a misreading of the judgment.
“You are basing your recommendation on a judgment that you read wrong,” Nel said, adding that the court had never found that Pistorius had no intention of pulling the trigger of the firearm that killed Steenkamp.
Masinga however stuck to his guns, testifying that he had based his recommendation on the verdict of culpable homicide and did not go into the merits of the case.
Masinga said that if Pistorius was sentenced to correctional supervision, the athlete could continue with his career. He added that Pistorius had lost his source of income and was currently surviving on savings he had secured prior to the shooting.
“Retribution is not the only consideration to take into account when considering an appropriate sentence, reform also plays a role,” Masinga said.
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