The world-renowned athlete
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein is on Friday expected to hear the States’ appeal to have Oscar Pistorius’ jail term lengthened.
North Gauteng High Court Judge Thokozile Masipa sentenced Pistorius to six years for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
According to the SCA’s court roll, judges “Bosielo JA, Sereti JA, Lamont AJA, Meyer AJA and Mokgohloa AJA” are expected to hear the case of the Gauteng director of public prosecutions versus Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius.
The State is expected to argue that the six years’ imprisonment on the murder charge is “shockingly”, “startlingly” and “disturbingly inappropriate”.
It is also expected to submit that the sentence does not reflect the seriousness of the crime.
The world-renowned athlete was arrested on February 14, 2013, for shooting and killing Steenkamp, who he was dating.
He would later deny the murder, claiming in his affidavit that he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder.
When the trial finally commenced, a neighbour told the court that she had heard the “terrible screams of a woman”.
When Pistorius, who was often emotional, took the stand, he apologised to the Steenkamp family.
During the trial, Pistorius maintained that he had no intention of murdering his girlfriend.
The court heard that when Pistorius was 11 months old, both his legs were amputated below the knee.
He attended school in Pretoria and uses prosthetic legs.
The court also heard that Pistorius’ parents divorced when he was six years old and when he was in Grade 9 his mother died.
After Grade 12, he enrolled for a BCom degree at the University of Pretoria but dropped out to focus on his career as an athlete.
Handing down her judgment in September 2014, Masipa found Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced him to six years in prison.
In October 2015, after spending one year in prison, Pistorius was freed and was allowed to continue serving the rest of his sentence under house arrest.
Later that year, the SCA overturned Masipa’s judgment and convicted Pistorius of murder.
In March 2016, Pistorius lost a bid to appeal his murder conviction.
Unsatisfied prosecutors challenged the six-year jail sentence and filed an appeal which, in August 2016, Masipa threw out.
Persistent prosecutors announced in September 2016 that they would turn to the SCA to challenge the “disturbingly lenient” sentence.
Pistorius is currently serving his sentence at the Atteridgeville Correctional Centre in Pretoria. — News24