(CNN) -- Oscar Pistorius has been sending the family of Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend he fatally shot last year, a monthly payment since March 2013, a probation officer told his sentencing hearing in South Africa on Tuesday. Probation officer and social worker Annette Vergeer told the court that Pistorius' legal team had told her about the payments, of 6,000 rand (about $540) a month, and she suggested that this showed remorse. She said Pistorius had offered the family more besides the monthly payments. The athlete sold his car for about $35,000 and had that money given to the Steenkamp family, she said.
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Probation officer: Pistorius has been making monthly payments to Steenkamp family
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Prosecutor says Reeva Steenkamp's parents will pay the money back
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Pistorius is too vulnerable as a disabled person to be sent to prison, probation officer says
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The athlete's sentencing hearing could last several days
The Steenkamp family, through a lawyer, told @placeholder that it was "neutral" on the sentencing phase of the trial, Vergeer said.