Oscar Pistorius sentencing: Judge to deliver athlete's sentence on Tuesday

Paralympic athlete is expected to learn his fate on Tuesday after his five-day sentencing hearing was adjourned

Oscar Pistorius to learn his fate on Tuesday (AFP/Getty Images)

The judge in the Oscar Pistorius trial is expected to hand down the Paralympic athlete’s sentence on Tuesday.

The five-day sentencing hearing was adjourned on Friday after both the defence and prosecution gave their closing statements.

Mr Pistorius is awaiting the sentence for the conviction of culpable homicide, after he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.

The athlete could serve a maximum of 15 years in prison for the crime.

The prosecution has called for Mr Pistorius to be incarcerated for 10 years, while the defence has argued that the double amputee should receive a maximum sentence of three years occasional house arrest, community service, and no jail time, claiming that violent South African prisons would “break” the athlete.

Mr Pistorius is also facing sentencing for his conviction of the negligent use of a firearm, for which the maximum sentence is five years. The conviction is for Mr Pistorius’s actions a month before Miss Steenkamp’s killing, when he fired a gun into the floor of a crowded restaurant.