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PRETORIA. — The High Court in Pretoria has to sentence Oscar Pistorius to a minimum of 15 years for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said yesterday.

“Courts have a duty to impose minimum sentences,” he told Judge Thokozile Masipa during his closing arguments.

He said sentencing Pistorius to correctional supervision would fail to pay “due regard” to the benchmark of 15 years for murder, which was set down by law.

He quoted from a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that crime was still on the rise in South Africa.

“One notices all too frequently a willingness on the part of sentencing courts to deviate from minimum sentences for the flimsiest of reasons,” Nel read.

Nel quoted from the SCA’s ruling that overturned Masipa’s finding that Pistorius was guilty of culpable homicide for killing Steenkamp in February 2013. The SCA replaced it with a verdict of murder.

It found that he was a poor witness, and that he never provided an acceptable explanation for firing the shots that killed Steenkamp.

Nel said finding that Pistorius had expressed remorse was unacceptable since he had not offered a credible explanation for his actions.

“Remorse for what?” Nel asked. — News24