South African court of Appeal increases Oscar Pistorius’s jail sentence to 13 years and five months

A South African court has increased Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius’s jail sentence for killing his girlfriend to 13 years and five months.

Prosecutors had argued that the six-year term for murdering Reeva Steenkamp was too short. The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled his sentence be increased to 15 years, less time already served.

Pistorius was originally convicted of culpable homicide in 2014‚ but the SCA upgraded his conviction to murder in 2015. In July last year the Pretoria High Court sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.

The appeal court said his testimony was “vacillating and untruthful”. Prosecutor Andrea Johnston had argued that Pistorius did not show remorse and had not told the Pretoria High Court why he had shot Steenkamp. “He should have taken the court into his confidence and said‚ ‘This is why I did it’. With nothing more‚ there is no gut-wrenching remorse.”

Johnston told the court that trial judge Thokozile Masipa elevated Pistorius’s regret and that his regret does not absolve him from the crime he committed. Advocate Barry Roux‚ counsel for Pistorius‚ argued that his client had showed more than remorse.

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