(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Judge Thokozile Masipa will have to decide whether Pistorius deserves to go to jail or stay free.South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius waits on October 16 2014 before his sentencing hearing at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. AFP
Pretoria— A cousin of slain model Reeva Steenkamp made a tearful plea on Thursday for Oscar Pistorius to “pay for what he has done” as the prosecution sought to make sure the Paralympic athlete goes to jail.
Battling tears and with her voice trembling Kim Martin told a sentencing hearing that she was “very fearful” of the South African star sprinter and did not believe his apology for killing her cherished cousin was genuine.
“Pistorius needs to pay for what he has done for taking Reeva’s life for what he’s done to my uncle to my aunt and the rest of my family” she said.
“My family are not people who are seeking revenge we just feel that to take someone’s life to shoot somebody behind a door that is unarmed that is harmless needs sufficient punishment.
“Everybody has suffered here and I really think we need send a message to society that you can’t do this and get away with it.”
Pistorius has been found guilty of manslaughter for shooting Steenkamp dead on Valentine’s Day 2013.
He could be sentenced as soon as Friday but with no mandatory minimum sentence Judge Thokozile Masipa will have to decide whether he deserves to go to jail or stay free.
Pistorius’s defence team has painted the “Blade Runner” as a “broken man” racked by guilt about accidentally shooting his lover four times with hollow point bullets believing her to be a burglar.
They have argued the double amputee would be vulnerable in prison and should be punished by community service.
Oscar Pistorius starts in the men's 400-metre semifinal during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. -AP file
The defence has warned that a jail term would “break” the star sprinter — who inspired millions when he became the first double amputee to compete in the able-bodied Olympics — and that he could fall victim to prison violence including gang rape.
“Without legs he will be vulnerable and a lot more vulnerable than the normal man” said probation officer Annette Vergeer.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel has slammed that suggestion of community service as shockingly inappropriate” and warned that “if the court sentence is too light and society loses trust in the court they will take the law into their own hands.”
He called Martin to the stand in a bid to shift the spotlight back on to the devastating impact of Pistorius’s actions saying Steenkamp’s death had “ruined” her family.
“I had to do this for Reeva I owe it to her” Martin said describing Steenkamp as a thoughtful caring young woman whose death felt like “the end of the world.”
She recalled Reeva was the first baby she ever held and recounted a joyful shared childhood filled with horse-riding school homework and time with family.
As Martin recounted her cherished memories Steenkamp’s father Barry who suffered a near-fatal stroke after Reeva’s death wept in court his shoulders shaking.
Pistorius sat in the dock also wiping away tears.
Martin said she was in a car when she heard on the radio that Pistorius appeared to have shot his girlfriend.
“I remember saying to my husband: ‘I hope to God he’s cheating on Reeva.’”
But when Martin saw her distraught mother she knew it was not so. “For me it was the end of the world” she told the court.
Pistorius 27 was found guilty last month of culpable homicide over the killing of the 29-year-old law graduate but was acquitted of murder.
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