Jean-Jacques Cornish

Oscar Pistorius loses Constitutional Court appeal bid

Oscar Pistorius has been denied leave to try and have South Africa’s Constitutional Court overturn his murder conviction for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp just over three years ago.

This means the former paralympian faces up to 15 years in prison when he’s be sentenced next month.

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Oscar Pistorius applied for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court which is South Africa’s highest court.

He contends that the Supreme Court of

Appeal wrongly upgraded his manslaughter conviction to murder.

Pistorius insists he shot his lover Reeva Steenkamp in error, after mistaking her for an intruder.

The Appeal Court found his testimony was untruthful.

The National Prosecuting Authority,  which opposes the application, says the  Constitutional Court  dismissed his bid  to overturn the Appeal Court finding because it believes there are

no prospects of success.

So in the Pretoria High Court on April 18, the 29-year-old will appear before Judge Thokozile Masipa, who originally found him guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced him to five years in jail.

She will re-sentence him on the Appeal Court’s murder ruling.

This carries a minimum 15 year jail sentence.

It could be reduced to take account of time Pistorius has spent in prison.

There was no immediate response to this latest development from Steenkamp’s family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.