Convicted Paralympian Oscar Pistorius will once again face off with the state as it attempts to have his six-year murder sentence increased to a harsher one.
The state is heading to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Friday. This after it managed to get the SCA to overturn Pistorius culpable homicide conviction into one of murder.
In its latest bid, the state will argue that six years in jail is too lenient a sentence for the murder of his former girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
On Valentine’s Day 2013, the world woke up to the shocking news that Pistorius had shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva at his house in Pretoria.
Pistorius fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet where Reeva was.
He has maintained that he mistook her for a burglar.
Following the handing down of the six-year murder sentence by Judge Thokozile Masipa, the National Prosecuting Authority, stated that this was far too lenient.
Practising lawyer Lebohang Mokhele says the state has a good chance of getting a stiffer sentence since it already managed to have the culpable homicide charge changed to a more serious one of murder.
“What the Supreme Court of Appeal would have to do now is only to change the years of conviction from 6 years to whatever, because in terms of the murder charge the minimum sentence that the court can impose would be the 15 years. It can even be more than 15 years.”
Mokhele says, however, the time Pistorius has already spent behind bars should be taken into consideration.
“The only alternative that he can do in this instance would either request the Supreme Court of Appeal to take into account the period that he has already spent in jail.”
