Johannesburg: Out of favour England batsman Kevin Pietersen has labelled the South African court's decision of handing Oscar Pistorius a six-year jail term for killing his girlfriend as 'pathetic' and 'shambles'.
My sympathy is with Reeva's family, Matthew! Zero interest in a murderer! https://t.co/60W3KFfpt6
— KP (@KP24) July 6, 2016
While delivering her decision in a story that has attracted intense worldwide attention, Judge Thokozile Masipa said she had considered both aggravating and mitigating factors, such as rehabilitation and murder, and concluded that the latter outweighed the former.
Judge Masipa cited this factor as main reason for deviating from the prescribed 15-year sentence for murder. She also observed that a court should not be swayed by public opinion but added that punishment must also reflect the seriousness of the offence.
However, the latest ruling didn't go down too well with the South African-born batsman, who has been vocal on his desire to see the convicted Paralympics runner punished with a harsh sentence, Sport24 reported.
Miffed Pietersen wrote on Twitter:
Judge Masipa should have left her chair, walked down to #OscarPistorius, shook his hand & given him a hug too! #Pathetic #Shambles
— KP (@KP24) July 6, 2016
Pistorius, famously known as the Blade Runner, was released on parole in October 2015 and has been placed under house arrest since then at his uncle's house after serving almost a year in prison of his five-year sentence.
But the double-amputee athlete was found guilty of murder after the Supreme Court overturned his previous culpable homicide conviction in December following the state's successful attempt in challenging the verdict.
Pistorius has always denied deliberately killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013 and claimed that he mistook her for an intruder before shooting her dead with four bullets fired through a closed toilet door.
Following the ruling, the 29-year-old was taken immediately to jail. Both the prosecution and defence can appeal.
