Bloomberg News
South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority will appeal the manslaughter verdict of Oscar Pistorius for killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The NPA will tomorrow file an application to appeal the conviction and his sentencing of five years in prison, spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke said by phone from Pretoria today. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had argued for premeditated murder in the eight-month trial in Pretoria, the capital.
'We'll be appealing the verdict and the sentence,' NPA spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke said by phone today, declining to disclose the grounds for an appeal. 'As the state, we are limited as to what we can appeal against.'
The double-amputee Paralympic gold medalist, known as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped prosthetic blades, was sentenced to prison for the manslaughter of Steenkamp. Pistorius, 27, killed Steenkamp in the early morning hours of Valentine's Day last year when he fired four hollow-point bullets in his bathroom at what he said he thought was an intruder.
Nel had wanted at least 10 years for the manslaughter conviction handed down by Judge Thokozile Masipa last month. Pistorius can be transferred to house arrest after spending 10 months in jail, in terms of the sentencing.
Pistorius's spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess didn't immediately respond to calls and an e-mail seeking comment. His agent Peet van Zyl didn't answer a call to his mobile phone.
To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Spillane in Johannesburg at cspillane3@bloomberg.net; Andre Janse van Vuuren in Johannesburg at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net Gordon Bell, Karl Maier
Entities 0 Name: Pistorius Count: 3 1 Name: Bulelwa Makeke Count: 2 2 Name: NPA Count: 2 3 Name: Steenkamp Count: 2 4 Name: Johannesburg Count: 2 5 Name: Pretoria Count: 2 6 Name: Bloomberg News South Africa Count: 1 7 Name: Gordon Bell Count: 1 8 Name: Andre Janse van Vuuren Count: 1 9 Name: Gerrie Nel Count: 1 10 Name: Peet van Zyl Count: 1 11 Name: Reeva Steenkamp Count: 1 12 Name: Judge Thokozile Masipa Count: 1 13 Name: Christopher Spillane Count: 1 14 Name: National Prosecuting Authority Count: 1 15 Name: Anneliese Burgess Count: 1 16 Name: Oscar Pistorius Count: 1 17 Name: Antony Sguazzin Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1tsJHwo Title: Mom: Steenkamp never had sex with Pistorius Description: Reeva Steenkamp never had sex with her killer Blade Runner beau, Oscar Pistorius, her mother claims. Steenkamp was "scared to take the relationship to the next level," according to June Steenkamp in her new memoir, "Reeva: A Mother's Story." "She had confided to me that she hadn't slept with him," Steenkamp, 68, told the Sunday Times of London magazine.
