Oscar Pistorius has removed his prosthetic legs during his sentence hearing at the Gauteng high court in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Paralympic and Olympic athlete’s defence team reportedly wanted to show the court that Pistorius was not a “strong, ambitious man winning gold medals”.
“I don’t want to overplay vulnerability… I don’t want to overplay disability… It doesn’t mean because he’s vulnerable that he can do what he likes. But please let’s understand … who is this man that you must sentence?” Roux said.
Pistorius is in court over the death of his partner Reeva Steenkemp, who was shot on Valentine’s Day 2013.
The former Paralympian, who was born without fibulas, was initially found guilty of manslaughter. However, this was upgraded to murder on appeal, and he is in court to be sentenced.
He has so far served 10 months in prison.
In court yesterday, Pistorious had tears streaming down his face as his lawyers addressed the room.
“It was not the man winning gold medals that must be judged … It was a 1.5-metre person, standing on his stumps, three o’clock in the morning when it was dark.”
But Pistorious lawyers’ attempts to play up his vulnerabilities came as the judge agreed to Reeva Steenkamp’s family’s request to release photos of her dead body to the public.
The graphic photos, which were previously withheld in order to “protect the integrity of the deceased”, have since gone viral, showing up on news outlets across the globe.
They show Steenkamp’s fatal wounds and the shocking affect the “expanding bullets” had on her body.
“I want the world to see the photos of the wounds inflicted on her. To know my daughter’s pain,” said her father Barry Steenkamp in his testimony.
“Isn’t it time we now finally let the world see what this accused did with four black talon rounds through a door?” Chief Prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, told the court.
“They have to bear the consequences … We think it’s time that people should see what those bullets did; what the accused did.”
Prosecutors are calling for Pistorius to receive a 15-year jail sentence which is the minimum sentence for murder in South Africa.
Judge Thokozile Masipa has announced she will hand down the sentence on July 6.
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