It was the kind of test few judges ever have to face: the South African High Court's Thokozile Masipa, former "tea girl" and crime reporter, faced the job of redeeming her widely criticised acquittal of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius in the full glare of the global media, amid one of the most divisive trials the country has seen. She called it "a delicate balance". She warned that society couldn't expect to have its way on the sentencing, with Pistorius' circumstances having to be taken into account. And she cautioned that the public - in this case including the Twitterati who had dissected every moment of the 49-day trial - often had no idea of the difference between vengeance and justice. With that, Masipa on Tuesday handed down a five-year prison term to Pistorius for the slaying of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a sentence that could see him released to house arrest in as little as 10 months. The trial has been the source of round-the-clock coverage in South Africa and intense international scrutiny. As jury trials no longer take place in South Africa, the verdict rested entirely on Masipa's shoulders. In 1998, she was only the second black woman to be appointed to the country's High Court. To this day, although the majority of the country's population is black, only 44 per cent of its judges are, according to Britain's Guardian newspaper. Out of 239 judges in South Africa, only 76 are women. Her involvement in the Pistorius case was a routine assignment, but few could ignore the striking symbolism of a black judge weighing the arguments of rival white lawyers in a high-profile trial of a white sport star that was held in the shadow of South Africa's troubled racial history. In closing remarks, Masipa said she had to strike a "delicate balance" in determining the sentence for Pistorius, who she had earlier decided was not guilty of premeditated murder. "I am of the view that a non-custodial sentence would send the wrong message to the community", referring to the possibility of consigning Pistorius to house arrest rather than a prison term. "But a long sentence would not be appropriate because it would lack the elements of mercy." This has irked some in South Africa, who think the verdict was too lenient and was a sign of the preferential treatment that the rich and powerful (and sometimes white) receive in the country. The prosecution is weighing whether to appeal the sentence. Because of the nature of South Africa's prison laws, Pistorius is expected to serve only about 10 months in jail before he may be able to opt for house arrest. Writing in the Guardian last month, South African journalist Mondli Makhanya summed up the national mood surrounding Masipa's deliberations: "In a country where race is still a major fact of life, the significance of all these whites daily showing deference to a black woman was not lost on the millions avidly following the trial. She was their pride as she imperiously but unobtrusively directed proceedings. "This pride was matched… by disappointment when Masipa acquitted the Paralympian of murder and instead found him guilty of culpable homicide." Masipa was born in 1947, a year before the white nationalist party ruling South Africa solidified its racist, apartheid regime. She grew up in the township of Soweto, near Johannesburg. An intrepid student, she graduated high school and worked as a tea girl for five years so she could have money to attend university, where she studied social work. She then became crime reporter. That experience probably fuelled her journey into law, which she started around the time South Africa had rounded a corner: Nelson Mandela had been released from prison, and the end of apartheid was in sight. Masipa reflected on her role in the national narrative in a 2008 documentary. "In the past [black] people would stay away from the court and rather sort things out themselves," she said. "Now they see black people, and women, on the bench and they say maybe, if you want justice, the High Court is where you go." The Washington Post, McClatchy-Tribune