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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The State  believes the sentence is an injustice and has the potential to bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

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On July 6, Judge Thokozile Masipa handed the 29-year-old Paralympic gold athlete  a six-year sentence for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013.

The prescribed minimum custodial sentence for murder is 15 years under South African law,

However  Masipa determined Oscar Pistorius should receive a shorter jail term because of mitigating factors such as his rehabilitation

In her sentencing remarks, she referred to Pistorius as a fallen hero who believed an intruder was behind the door. There was not a shred of evidence he’s knowingly fired at his  model and law graduate, lover

Pistorius’ defence team confirmed the athlete nicknamed blade runner would not appeal his sentence.

His sister Aimee thanked the judge in an interview shortly after he was returned to prison and said she was grateful for setting out her belief that  Steenkamp’s killing was not an act of gender-based violence.

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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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Her parents have issued a statement through their lawyer saying they’ve forgiven Pistorius but ít sends the wrong message to allow him to leave jail so soon to complete his five year sentence under house arrest.

South African correctional services officials, who saw parole officers last week, recommended that Oscar Pistorius be allowed to complete his sentence under correctional supervision.

This would have him serve the remainder of his five-year sentence, without the chance of parole, under house arrest.

It means he would not be able to leave the home determined by the court and parole officers could check on him at any time.

The announcement eclipsed all other news items in South Africa where public opinion has moved sharply against the double amputee who claims he killed Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013 believing she was an intruder.

His release from prison could be as early as August 21, two days after what would have been Reeva’s birthday.

It is also three months before the appeal by the prosecution comes to court.

They’re seeking to have Pistorius found guilty of murder.

It this succeeds, he could find himself behind bars for a longer sentence.

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Pistorius, who’s serving a five-year sentence for shooting dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, could be moved to house arrest in August.

In December Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled that the state could appeal her verdict of culpable homicide for which jailed Oscar Pistorius and seek to have it upgraded to murder

An appeal can only be granted on a question of law, not on a judge’s factual findings.

Masipa says her verdict’s based on her interpretation of law.

On March 13 in the Johannesburg high court, Pistorius’ defence will contest this.

His lawyer Brian Webber says they’ll argue that these are matters of fact, rather than matters of law and an appeal can only be granted on a question of law, not on a judge’s factual findings.

By lodging the application now, Pistorius’s defence team hope that Masipa will concede that another court could find the verdict was based on fact rather than law. This may prove a crucial legal weapon for them and deprive the state of momentum when the case is heard at the supreme court later this year.

Pistorius killed Steenkamp by shooting four times through a locked toilet door at his luxury home in Pretoria two years ago. He told the court that he mistook her for an intruder.

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After a week of hearing sentencing testimony, the judge will take at least a few more days to hand down her decision.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel’s pressing for a 15 year custodial sentence for the man found guilty of culpable homicide. He produces the acting head of South Africa’s prison services Zach Modise.

The chief warder says South African prisons are perfectly capable of accommodating someone like Pistorius, who is a double amputee.

Defence counsel Barry Roux extracts an undertaking from Modise that, if jailed, Pistorius will be housed in the prison hospital.

Steenkamp’s cousin Kim Martin testifies that Reeva’s death has destroyed her family.

She says they’re not seeking revenge but Pistorius should be made to pay for negligently shooting Steenkamp.

The headlines are grabbed by events in the public gallery.

Self-confessed killer Mikey Schulz sits in seats reserved for the Pistorius family.

When asked to leave he mouths an obscenity at the accused’s sister Aimee before being escorted out by police.

Schulz, who’s supporting a friend who might have been called to testify about a barroom argument with Pistorius, denies this saying Aimee is a liar like her brother.

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Authorities in Pretoria say everything’s in place for Judge Thokozile Masipa to present her judgment without delay or interruption. It will probably take today (Thursday) and tomorrow to complete.

The Oscar Pistorius murder trial has gripped the world as much as it has South Africa over its 39 court days this past six months.

Former social worker and journalist Judge Thokozile Masipa’s taken more than month to consider the evidence of 37 witnesses, including Pistorius himself who wept several times and vomited into a bucket during proceedings.

He maintains his fatally shooting his lover Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year through a bathroom door was a tragic error because he feared she was an intruder.

The state contends he killed her deliberately after a blazing row.

The trial has been broadcast live on television with journalists and the families and friends of Pistorius and Steenkamp packed into the court and filling an overflow room.

Both defence and prosecution have worked assiduously at dismantling their opponents’ cases.

It will be for Masipa to say whether she’s found any reasonable doubt allowing Pistorius to escape the charge of premeditated murder and whether he’s guilty of a lesser charge of murder or even culpable homicide.

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