Oscar Pistorius could STILL be convicted of murdering his model girlfriend after judge allows prosecution appeal
Crime & Courts Sports

Oscar Pistorius could STILL be convicted of murdering his model girlfriend after judge allows prosecution appeal

Prosecutors were given permission to appeal the Blade Runner’s culpable homicide conviction, but were not allowed to challenge his five-year prison sentence

Oscar Pistorius could be facing a murder charge once again after prosecutors were granted permission to appeal his manslaughter conviction.

The Paralympic athlete was jailed for five years in October after he was convicted ofkilling his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.

He was cleared of her murder, but found guilty of culpable homicide – or manslaughter.

However prosecutors said they planned to challenge the decision, and were this morning given permission to appeal the culpable homicide verdict. They will now seek a murder conviction.

Speaking before the Blade Runner’s trial judge Thokozile Masipa on Tuesday, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said he wished to appeal the conviction on questions of law.

He claimed the legal principles applied in reaching the culpable homicide verdict were “erroneous”, and that the court did not take the case’s circumstantial evidence into consideration in its entirety.

He went on to say that the court found Pistorius had the intention to shoot that night, but not the intention to kill.

But Nel questioned how the athlete could not have foreseen the consequences of his actions.

Delivering her ruling on the prosecution’s application to appeal this morning, Judge Masipa said: “I cannot say the prospect of success at the Supreme Court is remote.”

However, the judge refused the prosecution team permission to appeal the length of Pistorius’ five year jail sentence.

Nel had argued that the jail term was “shockingly inappropriate”, but Judge Masipa said she was not convinced by that argument and refused the application.MIRROR.CO.UK

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