If Oscar Pistorius is sent to prison, he will serve time in the healthcare facility at Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru II prison.
This is according to Zach Modise, acting national commissioner of correctional services, who yesterday testified in the Pretoria High Court in aggravation of sentencing for the athlete.
Pistorius, 27, was last month convicted of culpable homicide for shooting and killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on February 14 last year.
Modise told the court that a health assessment was done within hours after a sentenced person was admitted to prison and, with Pistorius’s disability, he would be housed in the hospital section if the court decided to imprison him.
Modise said the section had been modified with ramps, railings and baths, in addition to showers, to accommodate people with disabilities.
He may be assigned to one of the section’s 22 single cells, which each have a bed, cupboard, toilet and basin.
Probation officer Annette Vergeer, who testified in mitigation of sentence, said prisons did not have the facilities to accommodate Pistorius due to his disability.
Modise said the department had, in the extradition hearings of murder accused Shrien Dewani, convinced the United Kingdom courts that vulnerable people could be catered for in South Africa’s correctional system.
lDrama played out on the sidelines of proceedings yesterday, with a verbal altercation between Pistorius’s sister Aimee and a group of men, some of whom had been involved in altercations with Pistorius in the past.
Aimee allegedly told the men they were not allowed to sit on a particular bench in court.
Journalists seated behind the family said they then saw Mikey Schultz, the self-confessed killer of mining magnate Brett Kebble, mouthing words that appeared to be “f**k you” to Aimee. Leaving the court, Schultz denied the claims.
After prosecutor Gerrie Nel said he had no more witnesses to call, the legal teams will make their closing arguments for mitigation and aggravation of sentence today.
Oscar can be catered for in prison
This is according to Zach Modise, acting national commissioner of correctional services, who yesterday testified in the Pretoria High Court in aggravation of sentencing for the athlete.
Pistorius, 27, was last month convicted of culpable homicide for shooting and killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on February 14 last year.
Modise told the court that a health assessment was done within hours after a sentenced person was admitted to prison and, with Pistorius’s disability, he would be housed in the hospital section if the court decided to imprison him.
Modise said the section had been modified with ramps, railings and baths, in addition to showers, to accommodate people with disabilities.
He may be assigned to one of the section’s 22 single cells, which each have a bed, cupboard, toilet and basin.
Probation officer Annette Vergeer, who testified in mitigation of sentence, said prisons did not have the facilities to accommodate Pistorius due to his disability.
Modise said the department had, in the extradition hearings of murder accused Shrien Dewani, convinced the United Kingdom courts that vulnerable people could be catered for in South Africa’s correctional system.
lDrama played out on the sidelines of proceedings yesterday, with a verbal altercation between Pistorius’s sister Aimee and a group of men, some of whom had been involved in altercations with Pistorius in the past.
Aimee allegedly told the men they were not allowed to sit on a particular bench in court.
Journalists seated behind the family said they then saw Mikey Schultz, the self-confessed killer of mining magnate Brett Kebble, mouthing words that appeared to be “f**k you” to Aimee. Leaving the court, Schultz denied the claims.
After prosecutor Gerrie Nel said he had no more witnesses to call, the legal teams will make their closing arguments for mitigation and aggravation of sentence today.
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