Prosecutors to appeal Oscar Pistorius’ ‘shockingly lenient’ jail sentence

Prosecutors will appeal to extend Oscar Pistorius’ six-year sentence for murdering his girlfriend, South African media has reported.

REEVA Steenkamp’s parents were focusing their energy on the upcoming media launch of The Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation when the news broke that the state would appeal the “shockingly too lenient” six-year sentence imposed on Oscar Pistorius.

The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years, but individual judges are given leeway if there are “substantial and compelling” reasons to do so.

The country’s National Prosecuting Authority has now said the sentence was “disproportionate to the crime” and could bring the justice system “into disrepute”.

Convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius faces fresh court proceedings against him after prosecutors chose to appeal the “leniency” of the South African sprinter’s jail term.

She was told by the higher court that she had erred in not finding that Pistorius had intentionally shot at what he believed to be a human being behind his toilet door on Valentine’s Day of 2013.

The prosecution said the court failed to take into account three major aggravating factors when it sentenced Pistorius.

“Reeva was killed on the same morning she was due to deliver a speech against the abuse of women at a school in Johannesburg”.

The 29-year-old Pistorius is now serving his six-year sentence in a prison in the South African capital, Pretoria.

The prosecutors office said it would file the appeal by Thursday’s deadline.

Calling the sentence “shockingly inappropriate”, he said it attracted the epithets “startling” and “disturbingly inappropriate”. South African judges can deviate from minimum sentences if there are exceptional circumstances.

She said the sentence needed to be fair to both Pistorius and the family of the deceased.

She originally convicted Pistorius of manslaughter and gave him a five-year sentence.

Pistorius is serving his sentence in a prison in Pretoria and could be eligible for parole after serving half the term.

Oscar at his sentencing hearing on 6 June.

Pistorius, however, has always claimed that he suspected an intruder and feared for his life.