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Prosecutors to Appeal Pistorius' 'Lenient' Sentence


Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius leaves court after appearing for the 2013 killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, June 14, 2016.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius leaves court after appearing for the 2013 killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, June 14, 2016.

The South African prosecutor's office says it plans to appeal Oscar Pistorius' six-year jail sentence for murder, arguing it is "shockingly" lenient.

South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in jail earlier this month for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three years ago.

The sentence was reduced from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years. Judge Thokozile Masipa cited mitigating circumstances such as his remorse, the time he spent in jail for his original sentence, and the fact that he was not wearing his prosthetic legs at the time of the crime in reducing the sentence.

During the trial, Pistorius claimed he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he shot four times through a locked bathroom door, killing her, on Valentine’s Day, 2013. Prosecutors argued he meant to kill Steenkamp.

FILE - Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 4, 2012.
FILE - Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 4, 2012.

The law graduate and aspiring model was 29-years-old when she was killed by her boyfriend.

In 2014, Judge Masipa convicted Pistorius of culpable homicide and gave him a five-year sentence. He was released on parole in October after a year of time served, only to see his conviction overturned by an appeals court and replaced with a murder conviction in December.

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