Oscar Pistorius sentenced to 6 years in jail for murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

South African Paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius was on Wednesday sentenced six years in jail for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, bringing the curtain down on a trial that gripped the world.

The original trial judge, Thokozile Masipa, delivered the sentence.

"Public opinion may be loud and persistent, but it can play no role in the decision of this court," High Court judge Thokozile Masipa said in her ruling.

Dressed in a dark suit, the 29-year-old hugged members of his legal team in the packed Pretoria court room, before being sentenced.

Pistorius was found guilty of murdering Steenkamp by an appeals court last December. He had initially received a five-year sentence for a manslaughter conviction in 2014, a ruling derided by women's groups as too lenient.

The athlete had the lower part of his legs amputated when he was a baby and his lawyers have argued that his disability and mental stress should be considered as mitigating circumstances to reduce his sentence.

The state said that he had shown no remorse and has called for him to receive no less than the minimum 15-year sentence for murder.

Pistorius was freed from prison last October after almost a year behind bars to serve out the remainder of his term under house arrest at his uncle's house in a wealthy suburb of the capital.