Oscar Pistorius
Oscar PistoriusReuters

Former Olympic and Paralymic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison by a South African court Tuesday for the “culpable homicide” of his girlfriend in 2013.

Judge Thokozile Masipa announced the sentence after she convicted him of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, but acquitted him of murder last month.

Pistorius' lawyers had argued for a three-year period of correctional supervision, where the runner would have been under house arrest. Prosecutors asked the judge to send him to prison for at least 10 years.

Pistorius was escorted through crowds of onlookers and into the Pretoria courthouse by police officers. The parents of Reeva Steenkamp, the woman he shot multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home on Feb. 14, 2013, were also in court to hear the sentence.

The courtroom was packed, reflecting heightened media and public interest ahead of the sentencing. Police officers stood guard in the aisles.