Disgraced Paralympian Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years' jail for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three years ago.
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The gold medallist was taken to jail immediately after sentencing in a South African court.
The state had called for him to receive no less than the prescribed minimum 15-year sentence for murder.
"Public opinion may be loud and persistent, but it can play no role in the decision of this court," High Court judge Thokozile Masipa, who heard the original trial, said in her ruling.
Pistorius was freed from prison in the South African capital Pretoria last October after serving one year of a five-year term for culpable homicide — the equivalent of manslaughter.
But an appeals court upgraded the conviction to murder.
The 29-year-old shot Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, claiming he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet.
He pleaded not guilty at his trial in 2014 and has always denied killing Steenkamp in a rage, saying he was trying to protect her.
The athlete had the lower part of his legs amputated when he was a baby and his lawyers have argued that his disability and mental stress should be considered as mitigating circumstances to reduce his sentence.
Some rights groups said Pistorius, a wealthy white man and international celebrity, had received preferential treatment compared to others without his status or wealth.
Outside the court, a group of people held up placards backing the athlete. One read: "Give Oscar his freedom back please".
Steenkamp's mother and father, who said Pistorius had to pay for his crime, were also in the court.
AFP/Reuters
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