BBC News
The prosecution in the Oscar Pistorius case has scrutinised the athlete's charity work, on a second day of a hearing on whether he should face jail for killing his girlfriend.
Pistorius's main motive was to further his career, the prosecutor said.
The athlete was found guilty of the culpable homicide of Reeva Steenkamp last month - but was cleared of murder.
On Monday, the prosecutor was angered by a call for the sentence to be house arrest and community service.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel labelled the suggestion as a "shockingly inappropriate" punishment.
Pistorius faces up to 15 years in jail, although Judge Thokozile Masipa may suspend the sentence or impose a fine.
She said the athlete had acted negligently when he shot his girlfriend through a toilet door, but had genuinely thought her to be an intruder.
The sentencing hearing is expected to last several days, with lawyers for Pistorius hoping they can prevent a jail sentence.
Honorary doctorate
Proceedings began with Mr Nel's cross-examination of Pistorius's manager Peet Van Zyl.
At Tuesday morning's session, Mr Nel tried to show that the athlete's honorary doctorate at the UK's Strathclyde University was for his achievements "from a young age", rather than recent charitable work.
Mr Van Zyl had said that the doctorate was for the athlete's support for prosthetic limb development, but Mr Nel said there was no mention of that in the citation.
And he suggested to Mr Van Zyl that sportsmen often took on charity work for pragmatic reasons.
Later the prosecutor questioned whether Pistorius used his own funds to pay for prosthetics for disadvantaged young people, but Mr Van Zyl insisted that money earned for speaking which he asked to be paid not to himself but to charity was his own funds.
He also asked whether Mr Van Zyl had discussed future plans with the athlete, to which he replied that everything depended on the outcome of the trial.
The BBC's Andrew Harding says Mr Nel has been trying to show Pistorius as an obedient, self-interested, corporate client rather than self-less charity volunteer.
The prosecutor has reminded the court that the relationship between celebrity, charity and business is a quid pro quo, but it is not clear that he has done any more than that and his aggressive style may not work with the judge, our correspondent adds.
At the hearing on Monday, Joel Maringa, a prison service officer summoned by the defence, said Pistorius should perform community service and receive three years of house arrest rather than imprisonment.
"The accused will benefit from correctional supervision," Mr Maringa said, adding that this will give him an "opportunity to restructure and modify his behaviour".
But Mr Nel rounded on Mr Maringa, questioning whether he understood the gravity of the crime since his suggested punishment would amount to "no sentence".
Ms Steenkamp's father, Barry, held his head in his hands as Mr Maringa spoke, while her friends shook their heads in disbelief.
In 60 seconds: Key developments in the trial of Oscar Pistorius
The Paralympic sprinter had strenuously denied murdering Ms Steenkamp after a row on Valentine's Day last year, saying he shot her by mistake.
Ms Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate, was hit three times by bullets shot through a toilet door by Pistorius at his home in the capital, Pretoria.
No comments:
Post a Comment