Oscar Pistorius solemnly hugged
his lawyer Barry Roux and then
sat down alone in court as the
defence and prosecutions teams
finished their closing arguments
at his sentencing hearing.
The Paralympic athlete sobbed
during part of the final day of the
week-long hearing as Mr Roux
claimed the runner "lost
everything" after shooting dead
his girlfriend.
Pistorius, 27, has admitted killing
Reeva Steenkamp and said he
mistook her for an intruder,
thinking they were both in
danger.
Mr Roux said Pistorius had lost
his sponsors, lost all his money
and had not got enough to pay
for legal expenses following the
tragedy on Valentine's Day last
year.
He argued the disabled runner
should not be sent to prison but
should be put under house arrest
and have correctional supervision
- community service.
However, prosecutor Gerrie Nel
argued he should be jailed for a
minimum of 10 years and called a
house arrest sentence
"shockingly disproportionate".
Mr Nel said of the shooting: "This
is a serious matter. The
negligence borders on intent. Ten
years is the minimum."
Judge Thokozile Masipa
adjourned the court in Pretoria,
South Africa, until next Tuesday
when she is expected to hand
down her punishment.
Mr Roux said Pistorius was an
icon, in the eyes of South Africans,
who had "lost everything", "has
not earned a penny" since the
shooting and "is broken".
He said his client sold his last
asset - his car - to give money to
the Steenkamp family.
The lawyer added he will have to
live with "excruciating pain which
will never go away".
Mr Roux said his client's actions
when he killed her in his
bathroom were "dominated by
vulnerability and anxiety".
He said the double-amputee
athlete was a "compromised
person" when he opened fire on
the 29-year-old.
Mr Roux told the court his client
"did not consciously act
unlawfully", though he admitted
the runner had "acted
excessively".
Mr Nel urged the judge to think
about what happened to Ms
Steenkamp, and losing a child
was the "most devastating thing
that can happen to a person".
He said society may lose their
trust in the courts if Pistorius was
not jailed for killing the model
and law graduate.
She had "nowhere to go, she was
in a small cubicle" as she was hit
by four bullets, he said.
He said "we were lucky" to hear
in court the voice of the victim's
cousin Kim Martin - which he
called a voice representing
society.
Mr Nel argued her "softly-spoken"
remarks imploring the court to
hand down a prison term
"trounced any other noise
referred to".
On Thursday, Ms Martin said
Pistorius needed "to pay for what
he'd done" and warned a lenient
sentence would send the wrong
message out to society.
Pistorius could face a fine and a
suspended jail sentence, house
arrest, or up to 15 years in prison
after he was found guilty of
culpable homicide, the equivalent
of manslaughter in the UK

Source: Skynews