Court rejects state appeal over 'lenient' Pistorius sentence
Paralympian Oscar Pistorius's six-year jail term for killing his girlfriend in a Valentine's Day shooting will remain, after a South African judge rejected an appeal for a longer sentence.
Pistorius was sentenced to less than half the minimum 15-year jail term for murder last month.
Thokozile Masipa, the same judge who imposed the six-year term, told the Johannesburg High Court there was not a "reasonable prospect of success" if the State was to appeal Pistorius's sentence.
Convicted killer Oscar Pistorius. Source: 7News
Prosecutors had argued the 29-year-old's sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was too lenient, after the sprinter claimed he mistook her for a burglar.
Pistorius fired four times into his bathroom door, with Steenkamp on the other side in 2013.
Pistorius with model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Source: 7News
"The sentence of six years is shockingly lenient and disturbingly inappropriate," prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued in court.
At his sentencing in July, Masipa listed mitigating factors for ordering Pistorius to serve less than half the minimum 15-year term for murder, including the athlete's claim he believed he was shooting an intruder.
"I'm of the view that a long term of imprisonment will not serve justice," Masipa said then.
"The application for leave to appeal against the sentence is dismissed with costs," she said.
'Enough is enough'
But Nel argued that the six-year sentence was flawed and that it should be appealed.
"Another court may find that this court misdirected itself," Nel said.
Masipa was also the judge who had originally convicted Pistorius of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, in 2014.
An appeals court upgraded his conviction to murder in December last year.
Pistorius's defence said it was an "insult" to suggest that the court's sentencing had been flawed and that it was time the case came to a close.
"Enough is enough. What does the state want?" defence lawyer Barry Roux said.
A distraught Oscar Pistorius at sentencing. Source: 7News
"This process has been exhausted beyond the point of exhaustion," he added, accusing the prosecution of sending Pistorius "like a ping pong ball between courts".
Pistorius, who pleaded not guilty at his high-profile trial, has always denied killing 29-year-old Steenkamp in a rage, saying he was trying to protect her.
South African media reports earlier this month said that Pistorius had been put on suicide watch following mysterious wrist injuries.
Pistorius and girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Source: 7News
