A South African judge has sentenced Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius to five years in prison for the negligent killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.

At the culmination of one of the most watched murder trials in recent history, the 27-year-old disabled sprinter was led away by police officers to holding cells beneath the courtroom in Pretoria.

Pistorius wiped his eyes as Judge Thokozile Masipa handed down the prison sentence for culpable homicide.

Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, died almost instantly when Pistorius fired four shots through a bathroom door at his luxury Pretoria home, having mistaken her for an intruder.

The athlete, known as 'Blade Runner' because of his carbon-fibre prosthetics, became one of the biggest names in world athletics at the London 2012 Olympics when he reached the semifinals of the 400m against able-bodied athletes.

The athlete's defence lawyer said after the sentence that Pistorius is expected to serve 10 months in prison and the rest of his sentence in house arrest.

Dup De Bruyn, the lawyer for the family of slain girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp said a  five-year jail term for  Pistorius was "the right sentence," adding that "justice was served".