Oscar Pistorius was taken away in a police van with barred windows on Tuesday to start serving a five-year prison sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Delivering her sentence, Judge Thokozile Masipa cited the “gross negligence” Pistorius showed when he shot Steenkamp.
The world-famous runner later arrived at the nearby Kgosi Mampuru II prison in the South African capital, a facility that has had problems with violence and overcrowding and where during the years of apartheid death row inmates were executed before capital punishment was outlawed.
Authorities have said Pistorius would be held away from the general prison population because of his disability and high profile — possibly in a hospital wing or a high-security section.
Steenkamp’s parents were in court to hear the sentence and her mother, June, said justice had been done.
Pistorius’ uncle, Arnold Pistorius, appealed to reporters to give the family privacy after what he called “20 months of relentless public trial.” — AP
