South Africa's Appeal court changes Pistorius's jail sentence to 15 years

A South African court on Friday (November 24) increased paralympian Oscar Pistorius' prison sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to 13 years and five months.

The court said Pistorius should have been sentenced to 15 years, but the judges accounted for the time already served by the former track star. "Pistorius failed with an appeal to the Constitutional Court past year to challenge his murder conviction".

State prosecutors said they would appeal, arguing there had been no mitigating circumstances to give such a sentence.

"The sentence of six years' imprisonment is shockingly lenient to a point where it has the effect of trivializing this serious offense", he added.

The conviction was later overturned and a murder conviction was set in place in 2015.

Steenkamp's parents, Barry and June, were "emotional" as they watched Seriti deliver the verdict live on television at their home, family lawyer Tania Koen said.

Pistorius, 31, was not in court for the hearing.The Paralympic athlete shot dead Ms Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013 when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. Claiming he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder, he was initially convicted of manslaughter.

"They just feel that their trust in the justice system has been confirmed this morning".

The Supreme Court said that Pistorius "displays a lack of remorse, and does not appreciate the gravity of his actions". He has served a year and five months of his murder sentence.

Oscar Pistorius will be spending much more time in prison than originally believed.

Moments before sentencing was handed down in the Port Elizabeth High Court in Panayiotou's case, the SCA in Bloemfontein handed down a judgment changing Pistorius's jail term.

Murders usually earn a minimum sentence of 15 years in South Africa, but the judge said Pistorius had been vulnerable on his stumps, and had tried to save Steenkamp's life after shooting her.

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