South Africa court doubles prison sentence of blade-runner Oscar Pistorius

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein has increased the sentence of former Paralympian Oscar Pistorius from six years to 13 years in prison in connection with the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

According to News24, Justice Legoabe Willie Seriti said., "The sentence imposed by the...[high court] with respect to murder is set aside and substituted with the following - the respondent's imprisonment for 13 years and five months."

He said Pistorius should have been sentenced to 15 years, but the SCA took into account the time he had already served. The State had applied to have Pistorius' initial six-year prison sentence increased.

Pistorius was imprisoned in July 2016 after being found guilty on appeal of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day 2013.

North Gauteng high court judge Thokozile Masipa initially sentenced Pistorius to five years for culpable homicide in 2014.

He served only 10 months of the five-year sentence in prison before being released and was put under house arrest.

OneIndia News