Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

After an eight month long trial, Paralympian Oscar Pistorius learnt his fate in Pretoria, South Africa this morning.

Asked to rise in court on Tuesday, the 27-year-old athlete heard how he would receive a five year custodial sentence for shooting dead Reeva, 29, in February 2013. He also received three years for his firearms offence, fully suspended.

REEVA STEENKAMP FAMILY: 'WHEN I HEARD OSCAR HAD SHOT HIS GIRLFRIEND, I PRAYED HE WAS CHEATING ON REEVA'

Judge Thokozile Masipa said she considered this sentence to be 'fair and just,' and one that is neither undually lenient nor too severe.

She added that the aim of this was to: ‘ultimately rehabilitate the accused and to allow him to become a useful member of society,’ rather than leave him a broken man after a long prison sentence.

In September the Judge found Pistorius guilty of Culpable Homicide, after he shot his girlfriend Reeva through a locked bathroom door on Valentine's Day 2013.

OSCAR PISTORIUS TRIAL IN PICTURES

As there is no minimum sentence for the charge of Culpable Homicide, the court spent the final days of the trial setting out what they feel an appropriate punishment would be. The defence argued for home arrest and a community order, stating Pistorius's charity work and contribution to society as a reason not to lock him up. They also used his disability as a reason for his unsuitability for prison.

The prosection in contrast said nothing less than ten years would be appropriate for taking somebody's life.

However, this morning Judge Masipa said that while a non-custodial sentence would send 'the wrong message to the community,' too long a sentence would also be wrong because he is not a 'serial offender' and can be rehabilitated.

As the court was adjourned, Pistorius was taken away and will now be en route to Pretoria Central Prison - an infamous jail said to be full of some of South Africa's most notorious criminals.