South Africa’s top court dismisses Pistorius’ bid to appeal murder sentence

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s Constitutional Court has dismissed an application by paralympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius to appeal his sentence for murdering his girlfriend, legal documents showed on Monday.

Pistorious was initially jailed for six years for shooting dead Reeva Steenkamp, but prosecutors argued that sentence had been “shockingly lenient” and an appeal court agreed in November to more than double the term to 15 years.

“The Constitutional Court has considered the application for condonation and leave to appeal. It has concluded that … the application for leave to appeal should be dismissed as it does not engage this court’s jurisdiction,” read the court’s order dated March 28 and made public by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Monday.

“We have always contended as the NPA that their leave to appeal has no prospects of success, and the Constitutional Court has just confirmed that,” NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said.