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Bloemfontein – The State will have to argue in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein why it thinks convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius’s six-year jail term is lenient.
“The application for leave to appeal is referred for oral argument in terms of s 17(2)(d) of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013. The parties must be prepared, if called upon to do so, to address the court on the merits,” the SCA said in an order handed down on Wednesday.
The State has one month to file five additional copies of the application for leave to appeal.
They also have three months to file the record of the High Court proceedings.
On July 6 Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison by Judge Thokozile Masipa.
In her sentencing, Masipa said while the crime committed was serious, a long term of imprisonment would not serve justice in this case.
In October 2014 Masipa sentenced Pistorius to five years behind bars for culpable homicide.
On December 3 last year the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that it agreed with the State. It overturned Masipa’s verdict and changed it to murder.
In the early hours of February 14, 2013, Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times through the locked door of the toilet in his Silver Woods Country Estate home.
He claimed he thought there was an intruder behind the door about to emerge and harm him and that Reeva was still in bed. — AP
Online Reporter