Judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to give her ruling on the State’s leave to appeal paralympian athlete Oscar Pistorius’ sentence and conviction, in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Masipa thanked both counsel and postponed the case to Wednesday 9.30am.

“I want to think about it,” she said.

Barry Roux SC for Pistorius on Tuesday told the court that the law had been correctly applied in the conviction and sentencing of the athlete.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued that the sentence imposed on Pistorius was “shockingly inappropriate”.

Nel said the court showed too much mercy for Pistorius, who could have foreseen that he could unlawfully kill whoever was behind the door.
On October 21, Masipa sentenced Pistorius to five years in jail for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

He shot her dead through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year, apparently thinking she was an intruder.
The State filed papers last month calling for a heavier conviction and harsher sentence to be imposed on the athlete.

Pistorius was sentenced to a further three years, suspended for five years, for discharging a firearm at Tasha’s restaurant in Sandton, Johannesburg, in January 2013. SAPA