Oscar Pistorius removes prosthetic legs during sentence hearing in plea for leniency

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Oscar Pistorius has removed his prosthetic legs in a South African courtroom as part of his defence team&&num;8217&semi;s argument that the double-amputee athlete&comma; convicted of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp&comma; deserves leniency when he is sentenced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Defence lawyer Barry Roux asked Pistorius to remove his prostheses&comma; and the former track star and Olympian&comma; who had taken off his suit and put on a T-shirt and running shorts during a recess&comma; then walked in front of Judge Thokozile Masipa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The demonstration drew gasps from some onlookers in the courtroom and Pistorius became tearful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t want to overplay disability&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Roux said ahead of the demonstration&comma; &&num;8220&semi;but the time has come that we must just look &lpar;at Pistorius&rpar; with different eyes&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Judge Masipa will deliver Pistorius&&num;8217&semi;s sentence after hearings end this week&period; Pistorius is currently under house arrest and awaiting a new sentence after an appeals court overturned an initial manslaughter conviction against him and changed that to murder for shooting Ms Steenkamp at his home in 2013&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>South Africa has a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison for murder&comma; although a judge can reduce that in some circumstances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Walking in court without his prosthetic legs&comma; Pistorius was unsteady at times&comma; holding on to wooden desks and helped by a woman at one point&period; He then returned to a bench where he sat alone&comma; head bowed&comma; and wiped away tears&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When he had his chance to address the judge&comma; chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked Judge Masipa not to forget that Pistorius shot four times into a toilet cubicle from close range with no justification when he killed Ms Steenkamp&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;He intended to shoot someone in the bathroom&period; He did&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Nel said&period; &&num;8220&semi;Pity will play no role in the sentence&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defence&&num;8217&semi;s argument is that Pistorius&comma; a multiple Paralympic champion and a history-making amputee athlete who ran at the 2012 Olympics&comma; was a scared disabled man when he shot Ms Steenkamp through the toilet door&period; Pistorius was not wearing his prosthetic legs when he fired the fatal shots&semi; he testified at his murder trial that he felt vulnerable and thought an intruder was in the house&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Roux said on Wednesday&colon; &&num;8220&semi;It was not the man winning gold medals that must be judged&&num;8221&semi; but rather &&num;8220&semi;a man standing on his stumps at 3 o&&num;8217&semi;clock in the morning in the dark that must be judged&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;06&sol;image-136&period;jpeg"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;06&sol;image-136&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"Oscar Pistorius" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"325" class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-92212" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prosecutors charged that Pistorius intentionally killed Ms Steenkamp after a fight&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Nel also addressed the argument that Pistorius is a &&num;8220&semi;broken man&&num;8221&semi; because of the grief from killing Ms Steenkamp and the trauma that followed as the world focused on his case&period; Mr Nel referred to the emotional testimony a day earlier of Barry Steenkamp&comma; father of the victim&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;If you ever want to talk about a broken man&comma; we saw a broken man there&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Mr Nel said of Barry Steenkamp&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Nel repeated Barry Steenkamp&&num;8217&semi;s request that graphic photographs showing the fatal wounds Pistorius inflicted on his girlfriend &&num;8211&semi; including a severe head injury &&num;8211&semi; should be made public in the hope of deterring people from doing what Pistorius did&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Judge Masipa initially acquitted Pistorius of murder at his trial in 2014&comma; but her decision was overturned last year by South Africa&&num;8217&semi;s Supreme Court and she will have to decide the new sentence&period; The sentencing hearing is scheduled to run through to Friday this week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While prosecutors are seeking a long jail term for the 29-year-old Pistorius&comma; his defence has argued that he should be spared prison and allowed to do community work with children&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Roux began his arguments by saying there are misconceptions over Pistorius&&num;8217&semi;s murder conviction&comma; which he called &&num;8220&semi;enemies&&num;8221&semi; of the case&period; Mr Roux said &&num;8220&semi;substantial and compelling circumstances&&num;8221&semi; existed that would allow the judge to deviate from the minimum term of 15 years in prison&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One misconception&comma; Mr Roux said&comma; was that people believed Pistorius was convicted of murder for intentionally killing Ms Steenkamp&period; The Supreme Court found Pistorius guilty of murder in that he realised that someone might die as a result of his actions and went ahead anyway&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The ruling did not say that Pistorius knew it was Ms Steenkamp &&num;8211&semi; and not an intruder&comma; as he claimed he thought it was &&num;8211&semi; behind the door&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed120ec7b22">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;divId&colon; 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed120ec7b22'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;format&colon; 'belowpost'&comma;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; document&period;readyState &equals;&equals;&equals; 'loading' &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;document&period;addEventListener&lpar; 'DOMContentLoaded'&comma; window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub; else &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback&lpar;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&rcub;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;script>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>


Discover more from London Glossy Post

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

- Advertisement -
Exit mobile version