Anything but a prison sentence for Oscar Pistorius for shooting dead his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp would be "shockingly inappropriate", prosecutor Gerrie Nel has said.
Resuming his relentless cross examination of probation officer Annette Vergeer, a defence witness, who on Tuesday told the athlete's sentencing hearing that Pistorius would be "broken as a person" if he was jailed, Mr Nel said to place the runner under house arrest and sentence him to community work for three years as she had recommended would be "too light" a punishment.
The prosecutor also raised the prospect of a public backlash if the sentence for the double-amputee Olympian was not harsh enough, saying the court had to guard against people "taking the law into their own hands".
"Our courts and society value human life," he told Ms Vergeer, and asked her: "Don't you think society wants a heavy punishment?"
"You're recommending house arrest... but the accused could pursue his athletics, train, find a job..."
Pistorius was back in court on Wednesday for the third day of his sentencing hearing after being found guilty of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter in the UK.
The 27-year-old was convicted last month killing Ms Steenkamp on Valentine's Day, 2013.
Ms Vergeer, who was paid by the defence to produce her report, said Pistorius would be vulnerable to violence and placed in highly stressful situations because of his disability.
"The death of the deceased and the period since have been a far bigger punishment than incarceration," she said.
Mr Nel said people in wheelchairs in prison were more vulnerable than those with prosthetics, and accused Ms Vergeer, who insisted she had almost three decades of experience, of being "irresponsible" for coming to court and not being as knowledgeable as he said she should be.
Sky's Alex Crawford, at the hearing at the High Court in Pretoria, said: "The prosecutor appears to be trying to portray Ms Vergeer as a slapdash ignoramus with unreliable and biased conclusions."
The court also heard yesterday that Pistorius offered Ms Steenkamp's family 375,000 rand (£21,305) as compensation after already making a number of monthly payments to them.
Mr Nel said the Steenkamps rejected the lump sum - which they called "blood money" - and had decided to hand back the other payments.
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