Oscar Pistorius prosecutors appeal against jail term

Oscar Pistorius prosecutors appeal against jail term

Oscar Pistorius’s five-year prison term for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was “shockingly light, inappropriate and would not have been imposed by any reasonable court”, according to prosecutors who have filed for leave to appeal against the sentence and conviction.
In September, Masipa acquitted Pistorius of murder but found him guilty of culpable homicide, the South African equivalent of manslaughter, in a judgment criticised by some legal experts. Last month, at the end of an eight-month trial televised worldwide, she jailed the Paralympian for five years, though this could potentially become house arrest in less than a year.
The application, addressed to the high court registrar in Pretoria and Pistorius’s defence team, notes that the sprinter knew there was a person behind the toilet door and chose to use a firearm, firing not one but four shots, and there was no room for escape for the person behind the door.
Pistorius has always maintained that he mistook Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate, for an intruder and feared for his life. But the papers note that the court correctly found that he presented a “plethora of defences” and argue that these were “mutually destructive and irreconcilable”. They also quote the court’s finding that Pistorius was “a very poor witness”.
“The honourable judge erred in not appropriately taking into account the consequences of the accused’s actions. Not enough emphasis was placed on the horrendous manner in which the deceased died, coupled with the gruesome injuries she sustained when the accused shot and killed her.”
Masipa also erred in overemphasising the purpose of rehabilitation and reformation at the cost of retribution, the prosecutors contend. “We will argue that the sentence is inappropriate and shockingly light for someone that killed an innocent person with gross negligence where his conduct bordered on dolus eventualis.”
They note that, under the criminal procedure act, Pistorius will qualify to be released from prison under correctional supervision after serving “a mere 10 months”. There is a reasonable prospect that another court may come to a different finding, they say