Pistorius prosecutors call for 10 year term

The chief prosecutor in the Oscar Pistorius trial urged the judge to send the Olympic athlete to prison for at least 10 years, calling it the minimum acceptable term and noting the horrific nature of the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp.

Judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to announce Pistorius’s sentence on Tuesday. She adjourned court after chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel and chief defence lawyer Barry Roux presented their final arguments for sentencing, summing up the testimony in the week-long hearing.

Masipa found Pistorius guilty last month of culpable homicide (manslaughter) for negligently killing Steenkamp, but acquitted him of murder. Masipa has a wide range of options on Pistorius’s sentence. She could issue a suspended jail sentence and a fine, order the 27-year-old Paralympic champion to go under house arrest, or send him to prison for up to 15 years.