Dr hartzenberg oscar pistorius biography

A murder conviction would have almost certainly carried a jail sentence. Culpable homicide, South Africa's equivalent of manslaughter, can be punished by anything from 15 years in jail to a suspended sentence or community service. A stony-faced Pistorius earlier stared straight ahead as police officers escorted him into the court building.

He declined to answer questions from the scrum of reporters but greeted his family inside the court with smiles and hugs. After a dramatic six-month, on-off trial, opinion is starkly divided on the eventual outcome. A non-custodial sentence would be likely to spark public anger, fuelling a perception among black South Africans that, 20 years after the end of apartheid, wealthy whites can still secure preferential justice.

The decision by year-old Judge Masipa, only the second black woman to rise to South Africa's bench, to absolve Pistorius of murder drew criticism from many legal experts and the public in a country infamous for violence, particularly against women. Pistorius said the shooting in his upmarket Pretoria home was a tragic mistake, but at the trial prosecutors presented a written firearms licence test in which he acknowledged that using lethal force against an intruder was only allowed if there was a direct threat to a person's life.

With this in mind, as well as the questions over Judge Masipa's ruling on intent, the state could yet decide to appeal the culpable homicide verdict in pursuit of a murder conviction. Under South African law, an appeal cannot be launched until sentencing has been concluded.

Dr hartzenberg oscar pistorius biography

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Oscar Pistorius trial: Social worker says athlete should get house arrest, community service. The runner testified that he mistook Steenkamp, a year-old model and budding reality TV star, for an intruder who was about to come out of a toilet and attack him.

Hartzenberg, a psychologist who counsels Pistorius, said the athlete had lost the woman he loved, his reputation, friends, his income and sense of self-worth after what he said was an accidental killing — and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Pistorius sometimes cried, retched, perspired and paced up and down during sessions in which she tried to assist him, Hartzenberg said.

There is no minimum sentence in South Africa for culpable homicide or negligent killing. Some experts say a five-year jail sentence is a guideline when a firearm is used. View Comments.