PRETORIA (Reuters) -
A South African judge on Tuesday sentenced Olympic and Paralympic track
star Oscar Pistorius to five years in prison for the negligent killing
of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.At the
culmination of one of the most watched murder trials in recent history,
the 27-year-old disabled sprinter was led away by police officers to
holding cells beneath the courtroom in Pretoria.
Pistorius wiped his eyes as Judge Thokozile Masipa handed
down the prison sentence for culpable homicide. There was no immediate
reaction from members of his family, or from relatives of Steenkamp, a
29-year-old law graduate and model.
She died almost instantly when Pistorius fired four shots
through a bathroom door at his luxury Pretoria home on Valentine's Day
last year, having mistaken her for an intruder.
The athlete, known as 'Blade Runner' because of his
carbon-fibre prosthetics, became one of the biggest names in world
athletics at the London 2012 Olympics when he reached the semifinals of
the 400m against able-bodied athletes.