Pistorius gets six years for murder

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee Olympian described by a judge as a “fallen hero,” has been sentenced to six years in prison for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a ruling viewed by some as too lenient.

Judge Thokozile Masipa appeared to anticipate criticism of a jail term that fell far short of the normally mandated 15 years for murder under South African law, declaring: “Our courts are courts of law, not courts of public opinion.”

Pistorius, who shot Steenkamp through the door of a toilet cubicle in his home in 2013, was asked to stand and face Masipa as she announced his sentence in a wood-panelled courtroom in the capital, Pretoria.