Prosecutors to Appeal Oscar Pistorius’ 6 Year Sentence

The South African National Prosecuting Agency (NPA) has said that they will appeal Oscar Pistorius’ 6-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 2013.

The body, in a statement on Thursday described the sentence as “disproportionate” and “shockingly too lenient”

Read the statement below:

The NPA has carefully considered the sentence handed to Oscar Pistorius and has decided to file an application for leave to appeal in terms of section 316(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 against the sentence imposed by Honourable Judge Thokozile Masipa in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on July 6, 2016. 

The papers will be filed today, July 21, 2016.

We respectfully submit that the sentence of six years imprisonment, in all the circumstances, is disproportionate to the crime of murder committed, in casu, that is to say, shockingly too lenient, and has accordingly resulted in an injustice and has the potential to bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

We hope that this appeal will also clarify further the principles of sentencing, particularly in crime categories for which there are prescribed minimum sentences ordained by legislation, notwithstanding the fact that a judicial officer has a discretion to deviate from the minimum sentence after considering compelling circumstances.

Justice Masipa had on July 6th sentence Pistorius to 6 years in prison for murder with the option of parole after completing a third of the sentence.

The opined that a longer prison sentence will not serve justice.

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