Prosecutors want Pistorius jailed for 15 years

THE six-year sentence handed to Oscar Pistorius, the disabled athlete, for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was “shockingly lenient” South Africa’s Supreme Court was told.

Andrea Johnson, a state prosecutor leading an appeal for a tougher prison term, told the court in Bloemfontein that Judge Thokozile Masipa had “misdirected herself ” when she handed down a six-year sentence for the murder last year. Ms Johnson said: “It was a brutal murder of an innocent woman who had nowhere to hide.”

Pistorius shot Ms Steenkamp, 29, while she was in his small bathroom in his apartment in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013.

Ms Johnson said Pistorius had shown no “genuine” remorse and argued that Judge Masipa did not acknowledge the brutality of the crime.

The state argued the sentence for the murder should be extended to 15 years. Judgment was reserved.