Pistorius hearing: athlete paid money to slain girlfriend's parents

Oscar Pistorius paid the Steenkamp family around 6,000 rand ($542; 428 euros) on a monthly basis after he shot dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year, his sentencing hearing was told on Tuesday.

The Paralympic and Olympic sprinter was found guilty last month of the negligent killing of 29-year-old Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, whom he shot dead through a locked toilet door in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013. His sentencing hearing began on Monday.

Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel said on Tuesday the regular payments would be paid back in full. He told the court Steenkamp's mother, June Steenkamp, rejected an offer of 375,000 rand ($33,940; 26,800 euros) from Pistorius, because she did not want "blood money."

The Steenkamps had found themselves in financial difficulty after their daughter's death, their lawyer Dup de Bruyn told journalists.

De Bruyn said he had communicated this to Pistorius' lawyers, with the payments continuing until last month.

Defense wants house arrest, not jail

Pistorius' lawyers are trying to demonstrate that a lenient sentence of house arrest may be appropriate for him.

Social worker Annette Vergeer told the court on Tuesday that Pistorius should avoid a jail term, because of South Africa's violent and overcrowded jails. She said jailing Pistorius would expose him to rape and violence from other inmates, and his double-amputee status would make it difficult to live in a jail without facilities for the disabled.

Vergeer joined a previous defense witness, social worker Joel Maringa, who on Monday a punishment of house arrest and community service.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pistorius' agent Peet van Zyl took the witness stand to outline his charity work - an important component of the athlete's strategy to avoid serving jail time.

But Nel told Pistorius in court that being involved in charity work "is merely an advancement of your career."

Pistorius had done volunteer work and donated funds to help disabled people.

Sentence expected this week

Pistorius went on trial on March 3 after he fired four hollow point bullets through a locked toilet door in his upmarket Pretoria home, killing Steenkamp. He said he believed he had been shooting at an intruder. Pistorius could be seen sobbing several times during the trial, which was broadcast live on television.

Judge Thokozile Masipa, who accepted Pistorius' plea that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, has a wide discretion in choosing the appropriate sentence. It could range from a fine to 15 years in prison.

In her ruling last month, Masipa said Pistorius did not mean to kill anyone, but acted negligently and unreasonably, knowing there was someone in the toilet with little room to maneuver when he fired the shots.

Masipa's ruling outraged many in South Africa, and some legal experts believe she misinterpreted the definition of non-premeditated murder, saying Pistorius must have known that shooting four times through a locked door could kill a person. Some also questioned whether the justice system was failing the crime-plagued country.

Judge Masipa is expected to hand down the sentence in the next two to three days, after both the defense and the prosecution have presented their arguments again.

jr/lw (dpa, AP)