Last Friday, double-amputee Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius received a lengthier murder sentence by the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa. Pistorius was convicted for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home back in February 2013.
As told by the New York Times, Pistorius was seen as an icon of triumph over adversity due to being a double amputee, having had both his legs below the knee amputated as a child. The now-31-year-old was dating the 29-year-old Steenkamp, who was a law graduate and a model for several months, and they were known as a celebrity couple. The paralympic was initially sentenced to six years in prison in July of 2016 for manslaughter, which was later on changed to murder after his initial trial back in 2014.
Prosecutors criticized the leniency of the sentence and thus filed the appeal. The Supreme Court of Appeal then increased the sentence last Friday to 15 years, but deducted the time that Pistorius has already served whether in prison or under house arrest. This means that Pistorius has to serve 13 years and five months. The law in South Africa sets 15 years as the preferred minimum sentence for murder, but it can be reduced depending on the circumstances.
Upon hearing the doubled sentence given to Pistorius, Steenkamp's family said that the doubled sentence had brought back their faith in the judicial system. The family's spokeswoman Tania Koen further said that this was an emotional moment for them.
In Pistorius' defense, he said that he had accidentally shot Steenkamp. He fired four bullets through the bathroom door thinking that an intruder had entered his Pretoria villa. It was only when he broke down the door did he discover that he had killed Steenkamp.
However, prosecutors countered by saying that Pistorius killed Steenkamp in a jealous rage after an argument in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013.
