This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/south-african-prosecutors-attempt-to-appeal-oscar-pistorius-sentence-rejected

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Attempt to appeal against 'shockingly lenient' Pistorius sentence rejected Attempt to appeal against 'shockingly lenient' Pistorius sentence rejected
(about 2 hours later)
A South African judge has rejected an application by state prosecutors to appeal against Oscar Pistorius’ six-year murder sentence, saying the petition had no reasonable prospects of success. A judge in South Africa has refused an attempt by prosecutors to appeal against the six-year jail sentence imposed on Oscar Pistorius for murdering his girlfriend in February 2013.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had argued in court that the sentence for murdering Reeva Steenkamp was “shockingly lenient and disturbingly inappropriate”. Thokozile Masipa said an application by state prosecutors to appeal against the sentence she imposed in July had no reasonable prospect of success.
But judge Thokozile Masipa on Friday rejected the application to appeal against the sentence at the supreme court. Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, by firing four bullets from a handgun through a closed toilet door in his luxury home in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
Pistorius shot Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. The sentence was much lower than many had expected and was widely criticised. Public prosecutors had demanded the mandatory minimum for murder of 15 years. Steenkamp’s family, however, did not actively support their appeal.
At his sentencing in July, Masipa listed mitigating factors for giving him less than half the minimum 15-year term for murder, including the athlete’s claim he believed he was shooting an intruder. Critics said Pistorius had received preferential treatment as a wealthy, white celebrity.
“I’m of the view that a long term of imprisonment will not serve justice,” Masipa said. Gerrie Nel, the lead state prosecutor, told the court on Friday that Pistorius had not shown any remorse and had yet to convincingly explain why he fired the fatal shots.
But Nel argued that the six-year sentence was flawed and that it should be appealed against. “The respondent fired four shots through the door and never offered an acceptable explanation for doing so,” Nel said, adding that the sentence was “shockingly lenient”.
Masipa was the judge who had originally convicted Pistorius of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter. An appeals court upgraded his conviction to murder in December. Pistorius has always maintained he fired in the mistaken belief that an intruder was hiding behind the door.
Pistorius’s defence said it was an “insult” to suggest that the court’s sentencing had been flawed and that it was time the case came to a close. “Enough is enough. What does the state want?” defence lawyer Barry Roux said. His defence argued that his disability – he had his lower legs amputated before his first birthday – and the mental stress that occurred in the aftermath of the killing should be considered as mitigating circumstances.
“This process has been exhausted beyond the point of exhaustion,” he added, accusing the prosecution of sending Pistorius “like a ping pong ball between courts”. “I see a lot of prejudice against the accused from the state’s side,” Barry Roux, the former athlete’s main defence lawyer, said on Friday. “This trial and this process has been exhausted beyond any conceivable exhaustive process.”
Pistorius, who pleaded not guilty at his trial in 2014, has always denied killing Steenkamp in a rage, saying he was trying to protect her. During sentencing hearings in June, a clinical psychologist called as a defence witness told the court in Pretoria that Pistorius was “a broken man”.
The year before he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius – known as “the Blade Runner” – became the first double-amputee to race at Olympic level when he appeared at the London 2012 Games. Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in prison. After an appeal by state prosecutors, he was convicted of murder in December.
In her judgment, Masipa said the evidence she had heard convinced her Pistorius was not a violent person, was unlikely to reoffend and had shown remorse.
The judge said she had to balance the interests of society, the accused and relatives of the victim. Pistorius, she said, was “a fallen hero who has lost his career and been ruined financially. He cannot be at peace.”
Women’s rights activists disagreed. “The judgment is an insult to women. It sends the wrong message,” Jacqui Mofokeng of the African National Congress women’s league, told the Guardian after the sentencing in July.
Under South African law, Pistorius will be eligible for parole long before the end of the sentence.
The 29-year-old was treated for wrist injuries this month after apparently falling from his bed. Prison officials said he denied trying to kill himself.