Oscar Pistorius Case: Prosecutors File Appeal Against Verdict

Days before Oscar Pistorius is due to be released on probation, South African prosecutors have filed papers calling for the paralympic champion to be convicted of murder.

Oscar Pistorius, 28, has spent 10 months in jail for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013, after his conviction for manslaughter last year.

The double-amputee athlete insists he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.

State prosecutors want Oscar Pistorius’ conviction to be reviewed and converted to murder, with a minimum sentence of 15 years.

Oscar Pistorius was jailed for five years in 2014 for the culpable homicide of Reeva Steenkamp, a charge equivalent to manslaughter.

Under South African law, Oscar Pistorius is eligible for release under “correctional supervision”, having served a sixth of his sentence.

After being freed, the athlete would serve the rest of his term under house arrest.

During sentencing, Judge Thokozile Masipa said the state had failed to prove Oscar Pistorius’ intent to kill when he fired.

The athlete’s defense team now has a month to file its response.

Reeva Steenkamp’s parents have said that the time he has served is “not enough for taking a life”.

Oscar Pistorius shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door at his Pretoria home, believing she was an intruder, he told his trial.

In March a Johannesburg court blocked Oscar Pistorius’ legal team’s attempts to stop the prosecutors’ appeal.