Pistorius case to be heard by Supreme Court on November 3

Prosecutors in South Africa believe the six-time Paralympic gold medallist should have been convicted of murder and not culpable homicide after admitting killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013.

The State’s appeal against Oscar Pistorius’s culpable homicide conviction is set for 3 November – nearly a month after his parole review is supposed to be heard.

A panel of five judges will hear the appeal, the court announced on Tuesday. Two of the five judges are women.

Prosecutors accused Pistorius of killing Steenkamp intentionally after a fight and say Judge Thokozile Masipa made errors at the murder trial past year.

He fired four shots through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day, apparently thinking she was an intruder.

The Supreme Court could overrule Masipa and find the Olympian guilty of murder, order a new trial, or decide Masipa was correct.

Gerrie Nel argued last year that Pistorius must have known his actions would lead to the death of the person behind the door and called his five-year jail term “shockingly inappropriate”.

Pistorius was due to be released into house arrest in August after serving 10 months of his sentence.