A South African judge yesterday cleared the way for prosecutors to seek a murder conviction against Oscar Pistorius, after he was sentenced to five years in jail for the lesser charge of manslaughter over the killing of his girlfriend.
Prosecutors welcomed the decision, which could see the disgraced former Olympic and Paralympic star sprinter get a 15-year jail sentence.
“Our argument was that he should have been convicted of murder, and then would have been sentenced to a minimum sentence of 15 years. That is of course what we would like to happen,” the South African National Prosecuting Authority’s Nathi Ncube said.
Photo: AFP
Judge Thokozile Masipa, who was the original trial judge, said: “I cannot say ... that the prospect of success at the Supreme Court of Appeal is remote. I am also of the view ... this might have a practical effect. The application therefore ... is decided in favor of the applicant.”
The South African Supreme Court of Appeal will now review Masipa’s application of the law during the trial and decide whether Pistorius is guilty of murder.
Masipa refused leave to appeal against the five-year sentence for culpable homicide she imposed on Pistorius.
Photo: AFP
“The application for leave to appeal against the sentence is dismissed,” the judge said.
However, if found guilty of murder, Pistorius will likely receive a much harsher sentence.
Pistorius said he shot Reeva Steenkamp four times through a toilet door on Valentine’s Day last year in the belief she was an intruder. Prosecutors argued that he killed her deliberately after an argument.
Masipa found him guilty of culpable homicide, also known as manslaughter, and sentenced him to five years in jail, meaning that the 28-year-old could have ended up spending only 10 months of his jail term at Pretoria’s central prison.
The athlete’s father, Henke Pistorius, told reporters outside the court: “It should not have gone this far.”
However, “Oscar is strong, he’s strong, he has to be strong, he grew up like that. There’s lots of things in life, especially for a man like him that is ... not fair,” Henke Pistorius added.
Various legal experts said that they welcomed the ruling.
“There is an appeal and that is a good thing,” said Martin Hood, a criminal lawyer in Johannesburg. “A higher court can look at the case in its totality.”
“If the conviction is changed to murder then obviously the sentence will fall away and there will be a new harsher sentence,” Hood said. “It’s anything between 15 to 25 years, but it’s up to the court’s discretion, there is no minimum.”
Oscar Pistorius, who celebrated his 28th birthday last month, has been serving his sentence in a Pretoria prison. Due to his physical condition, the double amputee is being held in the hospital ward of the prison, shielding him from the often brutal overcrowded cells.
“He’s encountering many beautiful stories from prisoners. There are people there who have committed crimes, but whose lives have changed,” his older brother, Carl, told South African tabloid You.
Oscar Pistorius has been accused of receiving special treatment in South Africa’s notoriously corrupt prisons, where there is frequent reports of inmates using cellphones and even drinking alcohol. Yet Carl dismissed claims his brother is living the good life.
“He now lives moment by moment,” Carl said of his brother. “There’s no fairytale.”
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