Oscar Pistorius out of legal options as request to appeal rejected
Former star athlete loses bid to cut 13-year jail term for murder of Reeva Steenkamp
Oscar Pistorius has come to the “end of the road” in his lengthy legal battle over his conviction for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
The former Paralympian had asked South Africa’s highest court to review his 13-year jail term, after it was increased in November from a total of six years, reports South Africa’s News 24.
But the Constitutional Court’s ruling, released yesterday, was that the leave to appeal “should be dismissed as it does not engage this court’s jurisdiction”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said: “This is the end of the road. There are no other legal options available.”
Pistorius, 31, has always maintained that he did not mean to kill girlfriend Steenkamp, who was shot dead when he fired four times through the locked door of his bedroom toilet in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013. He claims to have believed she was an intruder.
It was a dramatic fall from grace for the athlete, who in 2012 became the first double-amputee to race at the Olympics.
Responding to the latest ruling, Gerrie Nel‚ the prosecutor in the original case, said: “Justice has been done. I’m just glad that this is over.”
A spokeswoman for Steenkamp’s family said they had “always had faith in the justice system”.
Prison sentence doubled
In November, Pistorius’s murder sentence was extended to 13 years and five months by South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal after the state argued that his original six-year term was “shockingly lenient”.
Justice Legoabe Willie Seriti said Pistorius should be sentenced to the country's minimum 15-year sentence for murder, but subtracted the time that the former Paralympian sprinter had already served in prison and at home under house arrest.
At the time, a spokesperson for Steenkamp's family said the ruling had “verified there is justice”.
Pistorius - who was not in court for the ruling - was initially given a five-year term for manslaughter in 2014, but was found guilty of murder on appeal a year later and sentenced to six years.
Pistorius claims that on the morning of shooting, he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder hiding in his bathroom at his home in Pretoria. The double-amputee, who was not wearing his prosthetic legs at the time of the killing, shot Steenkamp four times through the cubicle door.
Prosecutors argued that the athlete’s disability had been “overemphasised” and that his former six-year sentence was far too lenient.
“Murder is murder,” chief prosecutor Andrea Johnson told a five-judge panel.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
National Enquirer helped Trump in 2016, ex-boss says
Speed Read David Pecker says the tabloid published fabricated content to hurt Trump's rivals
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Congress starts clock on TikTok ban in foreign aid bill
Speed Read Lawmakers believe that the app poses a national security threat
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sydney mall attacker may have targeted women
Speed Read Police commissioner says gender of victims is 'area of interest' to investigators
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Prague shooting: student kills 14 people at university
Speed reads Police believe suspect, who killed himself, may have shot his father before carrying out mass murder
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Ex-US diplomat confessed spying for Cuba to undercover agent, FBI says
Speed Read DOJ says former US ambassador Manuel Rocha perpetrated 'one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published