PRETORIA, South Africa — Oscar Pistorius was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by a South African judge who cited the "gross negligence" he showed when he shot her multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home.
Judge Thokozile Masipa also sentenced the double-amputee Olympian to three years in prison for unlawfully firing a gun in a restaurant in a separate incident weeks before Steenkamp's 2013 shooting death. She ordered that sentence to be wholly suspended.
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Masipa delivered her ruling after reviewing prosecution arguments for a tough sentence as well as the defense case for a more lenient punishment for Pistorius.
Pistorius killed Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year, shooting her through a toilet door in his home. Pistorius testified that the shooting was an accident because he mistook his girlfriend for a nighttime intruder.
Masipa convicted him of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, but acquitted him of murder.
Pistorius stood as the judge announced his sentence, and then left the courtroom and walked down a flight of stairs that lead to holding cells. His sentence starts immediately.
Legal experts said the section Judge Masipa quoted when she handed down Pistorius' sentence provides that his prison term be a maximum of five years and the runner could be eligible for house arrest after serving eight months in jail.
Pistorius' lawyers argued for a three-year period of correctional supervision, where the runner would spend periods under house arrest and also perform community service. Prosecutors asked the judge to send him to prison for at least 10 years, citing the "horrific" nature of Steenkamp's death after she was shot multiple times.
Masipa said at the start of proceedings Tuesday that the two legal assessors who had assisted her throughout the trial, flanking her on the dais during court proceedings, were not involved in the sentence decision.
"The decision of sentence is mine and mine alone," she said.
The judge said sentencing was about "achieving the right balance" involving a number of factors, including the interests of society. Masipa said sentencing was not a "perfect exercise" and that a variety of sentences might be appropriate in some cases.
Pistorius, 27, was earlier escorted through crowds of onlookers and into the Pretoria courthouse by police officers wearing blue berets. The parents of Steenkamp, the 29-year-old model he shot multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home on Feb. 14, 2013, were also in court to hear the sentence.
The courtroom was packed, reflecting heightened media and public interest ahead of the sentencing. Police officers stood guard in the aisles.
Before proceedings started, Dr. Lore Hartzenberg, a psychologist, held Pistorius' hand and spoke softly to him. Hartzenberg had testified for the defense that Pistorius was a "broken man" after killing his girlfriend and had suffered emotionally and financially — and shouldn't be sent to prison.
A Pistorius supporter laid three white roses near Pistorius.
"I just wanted to bestow a little bit of inner happiness on Oscar," said the supporter, who added that she thought he had lost a lot of self-respect.
Outside the courthouse, a man in orange garb carried chains and a large sign that read: "Are certain offenders more equal than other offenders before the law?"