It all went down in the High Court of Pretoria today, Judge Thokozile Masipa handing down her verdict in the trial of Oscar Pistorius.

It’s taken us a long, long time to get here, but perhaps the most important day of all took place December 3 last year.

That was the day that the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered that Oscar be sentenced afresh, overturning Masipa’s finding that he was guilty of culpable homicide, and replacing that verdict with one of murder.

The minimum sentence for such a charge is 15 years, but in the build up many legal minds were saying they expected around 10 years to be handed down.

Verdict time – here it is from News24:

Masipa: The State says the accused showed no remorse. I disagree. At the commencement of the original trial, the accused apologised to the parents of the deceased…

According to the State, the court should still deliver a long sentence, as the crime bordered on dolus directus. I disagree…

Masipa quoting further case law regarding public opinion.

“A sentencing policy that catered predominantly to public opinion was inherently flawed.

“Public opinion may have some relevance, but cannot replace the court’s duty”…

Masipa: Mr Pistorius please rise.

In the result, the sentence I impose on the accused in terms of murder dolus eventualis, is six years imprisonment.

I’d like to thank counsel for their assistance, the officers of the court, and the staff.

In the meantime, I will adjourn and I’ll be in chambers.

Counsel I’m willing to here an application for leave to appeal today.

Court is adjourned.

This is the moment the sentence was announced:

And his farewells to his family before he was led away:

WATCH #OscarPistorius hugs his family after he was given a 6 year sentence.
MV pic.twitter.com/tg96qRIDni

— Maryke Vermaak (@MarykeVermaak) July 6, 2016

Six years – that is nine less than the minimum sentence in cases like this.

Wow, this woman might be impressed:

So how long will he really spend in jail? Some legal tweets:

And one interesting perspective:

And one joke in the sea of anger and outrage:

No doubt we’ll be hearing from an array of experts over the hours, days and weeks that follow.

[sources:news24,thesouthafrican]