South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is set to discover whether he faces a prison term for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Thokozile Masipa has heard the prosecution call for a minimum 10-year sentence, against a defence argument for community service and house arrest.
Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide but cleared of murder.
On the eve of sentencing, Pistorius’s siblings criticised the “twisted” and “sensationalised” media coverage.
His sister Aimee and brother Carl told a South African broadcaster the facts had been “twisted and manipulated”.
‘Lot of anxiety’
Pistorius, 27, an amputee sprinter who became the first athlete to compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, killed Ms Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.
He says he shot her by mistake, fearing there was an intruder in his house in the capital, Pretoria.
Ms Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, reality TV star and law graduate, was hit three times by bullets fired by Pistorius through a toilet door.
Last month, Judge Masipa cleared Pistorius of murder, but convicted him of culpable homicide, saying he had been negligent.
The high-profile, seven-month trial has captured public attention in South Africa and beyond.
There is no legal limit on the length of a jail term, but experts say the typical maximum sentence for culpable homicide is around 15 years.
However, even after the sentence is announced in Pretoria, the case may not be over.
Both the prosecution and the defence have the right to appeal against the verdict.
‘No closure’
On the eve of sentencing, Pistorius’s sister, Aimee, told South African broadcaster eNCA there was “obviously a lot of anxiety” ahead of the sentencing, and that the past 20 months had been “very taxing”.
She said she felt “heartache for both my brother, our family and of course [Reeva] Steenkamp’s family and her friends”.
Both families would struggle to move on, she said.
“It’s something that you never really get closure on… It’s something that my brother will carry with him for the rest of his life.
“It is important for us that [Ms Steenkamp’s family] know that she was very much cared for and loved, and accepted as part of our family in the short time that she was with us… [Reeva] had a wonderful charisma and zest for life that she just exuded and it was easy to just fall in love with her.”
She added: “The truths had been twisted and manipulated, and things have been sensationalised. It causes hurt when things are also reported as fact when they are not.”
Brother Carl Pistorius said the hardest part of the situation was “all the negative media, polarised publicity, twisted truths and untruths, and how that infiltrates your life regardless of whether you try to or try not to follow the media”.
“It permeates the very atmosphere of everywhere you go, including those that are close to you,” he said.
BBC SPORT
About the Author
