Judge rejects appeal for harsher sentence

The 29‑year‑old double‑ amputee Olympic sprinter is serving six years in prison for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2013.

A South African judge on Friday dismissed an appeal by prosecutors for a harsher sentence against Oscar Pistorius who was found guilty of murder for killing his girlfriend in 2013.

Judge Thokozile Masipa said the state’s appeal to extend the six-year sentence against the 29-year-old double amputee Olympic sprinter had a limited prospect of success.

“I am not persuaded that there are reasonable prospects of success for an appeal,” she said in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

Pistorius shot Reeva Steenkamp, 29, in the early hours of February 14. He claimed he thought she was an intruder. The state charged that he shot her in anger after an argument.