Davison, 57, who was arrested yesterday (Wednesday) has indicated to  the Cape Town court, through his lawyer, that he intends pleading not guilty.

The State did not oppose bail of 1,170 euros for Davison who came to prominence in 2011 after assisting his mother’s death in New Zealand by giving her morphine.

He served a five-month period of house arrest in New Zealand.

Davison, who founded Dignity SA, is charged with the murder of paraplegic Dr Anrich Burger in Sea Point five years ago.

He is due back in court on November 16.

Prosecutor Megan Blow told the court new information had come to light indicating that  Davison has committed other similar offenses of assisted suicides.

Dignity SA co-founder Willem Landman said serious crimes squad detectives had searched Davison house and seized is laptop and mobile phone.

Euthenasia is illegal in South Africa.

Two years ago the state appealed a High Court ruling granting a man the right to a medically assisted death.

The Appeal Court overturned that judgment that could have opened the way to assisted suicides.

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The Appeal Court has handed down the mandatory 15 years for murder in South Africa.

With time served, Pistorius has been jailed for 13 years and five months.

Reeva Steenkamp’s parents June and Barry say that justice has been served by the heavier sentence handed down to her murderer

They add that the can now get on with their lives.

However, the drama does not necessarily end here.

Pistorius could petition the Constitutional Court to review the Appeal Court decision.

Gerrie Nel, the aggressive prosecutor nicknamed the Rottweiler , says the tougher sentence has affirmed his faith in South Africa’s justice system.

Nel, who now prepares private prosecutions for a rightwing pressure group, brought the appeal saying the six year sentence handed down to Pistorius was shockingly lenient.

Appeal Court judge Willie Seriti agreed.

The full bench of judges found the trial judge Thokozile Masipa  had taken too much account  of Pistorius’s disability and had erred in believing that fear of an intruder had provoked him to fire four shots through a bathroom door killing Steenkamp.

Her original verdict of manslaughter was overturned by the Appeal Court in 2015.  Ordered to impose a sentence for murder, she found substantial and compelling reasons to hand down a sentence of six years.

Seriti said Pistorius had failed to use an opportunity in court to explain his actions and wasnot remorseful.

The post Jail term for Oscar Pistorius is more than doubled appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The paralympic star was sentenced to six years when the lesser sentence for culpable homicide was overturned by the Appeal Court in July 2016 and replaced by murder.

The state’s case will be argued by Andrea Johnson. She  was the assistant to Gerrie Nel who became a household name for his aggressive  prosecution of Oscar Pistorius.

Nel, who now works for a right wing pressure group used the phrase “shockingly low” for the five year sentence handed down when Pistorius was found guilty of the South African equivalent of manslaughter.

Nel was still with the prosecution service when the Appeal Court found Pistorius guilty of murder and ordered the trial judge Thokozile Masipa to re-sentence him.

He baulked at the judge sending Pistorius down for six years.

Johnson will argue that the minimum sentence  for murder in South Africa is 15 years.

Defence counsel will argue that Masipa correctly found substantial and compelling circumstances justifying her handing Pistorius a lesser sentence.

Pistorius will not be court today. He’s in a special prison in Pretoria accommodating his physically disability. He has no legs below the knees .

The appeal judges will hand down their ruling at a later date.

The post Prosecution wants longer jail sentence for Pistorius appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

As a signatory of the Rome Statute, South Africa’s obliged to hold Bashir who’s wanted by the court for war crimes and genocide in Darfur

The announcement from the Hague follows last year’s dispute when President Omar al Bashir attended an African Union summit.

The Sudanese leader was able to leave despite a South African High Court ruling that he be held pending its judgment.

The Appeal Court’s  accused government of disgraceful conduct and ruled that failure to arrest Bashir was unlawful.

Government maintains Bashir had immunity as an AU head of  state.

It has subsequently given notice that it is leaving this ICC.

But this does not exonerate it from its obligations while still a signatory.

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Judge Thokozile Masipa’s  rejected the State’s bid for leave to appeal the six-year jail sentence for murder she eventually  imposed on Pistorius.

ends intro

It was Judge Thokozile Masipa who found Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide and sent him to jail for five year  years.

The Appeal Court overturned that last December and found the legless athlete guilty of murder – giving rise to the  heavier sentence she imposed.

She pointed out that time that there was not a shred of evidence that Pistorius knew when he was firing through a toilet door that his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was on the other side.

Pistorius’s defence has been that he believed he was shooting at an intruder.

Masipa said in the Pretoria High Court today (Friday) that she’s  not persuaded that there are reasonable prospects of success for an appeal. She dismissed with costs the application for leave to appeal.

Earlier, Barry Roux, for Pistorius, argued that the State was merely dragging out legal processes and subjecting the former Paralympian to continued uncertainty.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued that deviating from the prescribed 15-year minimum sentence for murder induces a sense of shock.

The post Prosecution loses bid to get an even tougher sentence against Pistorius appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Dr Jonathon Scholtz tells a sentencing hearing in the Pretoria High Court that Pistorius should be hospitalised not returned to prison as is expected after his manslaughter conviction was upgraded to murder.

ends intro

The sentencing hearing for South Africa’s disgraced golden boy is set down to last until Friday.

Judge Thokozile Masipa, who’s manslaughter conviction was overturned by the Appeal Court who found Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder, is once again on the bench.

She has to impose the harsher sentence on the accused, who insists he fired the fatal shots that killed Reeva Steenkamp through the bathroom door of his apartment believing there was an  intruder.

South Africa’s criminal law lays down a mandatory 15 year sentence for murder.

1. Masipa may reduce this if there are extraordinary circumstances. She may also take into account that Pistorius has served a year in prison of  the five-year sentence she originally laid down.

Psychiatrist Jonathon Scholtz reported during the original trial that there were two Oscars – the Olympic hero with his prosthesis and the insecure frightened boy on his stumps.

Now he says there’s a third Pistorius  who’s too broken-sprited to give evidence in mitigation of his sentence.

He’s suffering deep anxiety, paranoia and post traumatic stress.

He should be hospitalized not incarcerated.

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