NPA to appeal 'shockingly lenient' Pistorius sentence

The NPA will appeal Oscar Pistorius' six-year jail sentence, it said yesterday, describing the sentence handed out by Judge Thokozila Masipa in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) as ‘shockingly too lenient'. It said the sentence had 'resulted in an injustice’ with the ‘potential to bring the administration of justice into disrepute’, notes Legalbrief. Pistorius was sentenced on 6 July for fatally shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013. He was initially convicted of culpable homicide and received a five-year sentence, but the SCA changed the conviction to murder and ordered that he be re-sentenced. A TimesLIVE report notes June and Barry Steenkamp’s lawyer‚ Tania Koen‚ said the couple had no input on the decision. ‘As they have no input in the decision of the state to appeal‚ they are focusing their energy on the upcoming official media launch of The Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation on 19 August 2016‚ on what would have been Reeva’s 33rd birthday,’ she said.