THE Oscar Pistorius case has returned to court in South Africa, with prosecutors seeking a longer sentence after the double-amputee athlete was found guilty of murder for shooting his girlfriend.
Prosecutors are asking South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal to give them permission to challenge Pistorius’s six-year term, calling it “shockingly” lenient.
The prosecution wants the 30-year-old to be jailed for at least 15 years for killing Reeva Steenkamp, the prescribed minimum sentence for murders that are not premeditated. There is no death penalty in South Africa.
Pistorius, who has served just over a year in a prison near the capital, Pretoria, did not attend the hearing.
Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, was at the courthouse, and lawyer Tania Koen said the family supported the appeal.
It is the second time prosecutors have gone to the Supreme Court in the central city of Bloemfontein to challenge a decision by trial judge Thokozile Masipa.
In 2015, they successfully appealed against her judgment that Pistorius was not guilty of murder. The court overturned Judge Masipa’s verdict of culpable homicide — or manslaughter — and convicted Pistorius of murder.
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