Pretoria - The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein is due to hear arguments in the State’s appeal against Oscar Pistorius’ six-year jail sentence, on November 3.
Pistorius returned to jail for a second time in June last year to start serving his six-year jail term for the Valentines Day 2013 killing of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The State is however set on appealing what they called a shockingly lenient sentence meted out to him by Judge Thokozile Masipa in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
His advocate, Barry Roux, in papers filed with the SCA, said the looming appealing proceedings are hanging like a sword over his head.
“”On July 6, 2016, he returned to prison to commence serving the six-year-jail sentence. Then the State applied for leave to appeal. Since then the respondent (Oscar) had to await the outcome of the present proceedings, further prolonging the agony caused by uncertainty,” Roux said.
Former chief prosecutor in the high-profile trial, Gerrie Nel, expressed his shock and dissatisfaction after the court sentenced Oscar for a second time - this time to a six-year jail sentence.
The prosecution at the time set the wheels in motion to appeal the sentence. Judge Masipa turned down the State’s application for leave to appeal, but the prosecuting team turned directly to the SCA in this regard.
The appeal took some time to get off the ground but it is now confirmed that it has been set down for November 3.
It is expected that the legal arguments will be concluded within one day.