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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He has to serve half this sentence before being able to apply for parole.

Judge Thokozile Masina, who sentenced him in October 2014 to five years for culpable homicide, found the mitigating evidence outweighed the aggravating factors to be considered in imposing the sentence  for the murder conviction imposed by the Appeal Court last December.

She found Oscar to be a good candidate for rehabilitation.

Masipa says there was no a shred of evidence offered that Oscar has knowingly shot his lover Reeve Steenkamp, so this was not a case of domestic violence or violence against women.

This is, however, the public misperception about the case.

Masina says she has to serve the public interest not address public opinion.

Pistorius’ defence  will not appeal the sentence.

Masipa is waiting in her chamber to see if the prosecution will seek leave to appeal.

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

ends intro

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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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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Pistorius becomes eligible for release in August to serve the rest of sentence under house imprisonment.

However the state is appealing Judge Thokozile Masipa acquitting Pistorius of murder.

At Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria where the double amputee is in special accommodation, Oscar Pistorius has been upgraded to category A inmate from category B.

The prison authorities have decided he poses little threat to security.

This means he’s allowed more visitors and may hug and kiss them, wear jewellery and keep a radio in his cell. He is can make more personal telephone calls.

He’s also allowed to have a hobby and may spend more money on toiletries and snacks.

The family of Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot and killed two years ago, are reportedly unhappy about the development.

Her uncle, Mike Steenkamp says the correctional services department evidently has a short memory about what Pistorius did.

Pistorius admits shooting Steenkamp but says he mistook her for an intruder.

The judge found his firing through a closed bathroom door, amounts to culpable homicide.

A Pistorius family source say his new status has boosted the jailed athlete’s spirits.

His most frequent visitors are his brother Carl and sister Aimee.

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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.

The post Oscar sentencing testimony wraps up appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The prosecution’s been trying to punch holes in the testimony of a medical expert who says that because the accused has no lower legs and is unsteady on his stumps, he opted for fight rather than flight when he mistook his lover Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder behind the toilet door.

Oscar Pistorius’s lawyer Barry Roux asked Judge Thokozile Masipa for an adjournment until today, saying he needed to get proper instructions before closing the case.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel contends Pistorius’s sports doctor overstated his immobility on his stumps.

He contends Professor Wayne Derman cannot be objective because he is the accused’s caregiver.

Pistorius’s defence team say his disability and anxiety disorder led the paralympian to shoot Reeva
Steenkamp out of fear that she was an intruder.
A re-enactment video commissioned by the defence shows Oscar moving with greater mobility without his prosthesis than Derman testified.

It’s been aired by an Australian television network, but has not been entered as evidence before the court.

Pistorius’s team warned against any other media rebroadcasting the clip.
Steenkamp’s mother June has told a British magazine she’s forgiven Pistorius and doesn’t hate him.
However she’s determined to face him and re-claim her daughter.

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