Appeal fails to add more years to Oscar Pistorius jail sentence

Oscar Pistorius will not have years added to his prison sentence for murdering Reeva Steenkamp after state prosecutors failed to convince a judge that six years in prison was not long enough.The former paralympian shot and killed his girlfriend in 2013 after firing four bullets through the bathroom door of their Pretoria home.

He was originally found guilty of culpable homicide before the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned that decision. Judge Thokozile Masipa later sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for murder.

However the legal process did not stop there and the state applied for leave to appeal the sentence on the grounds it was "shockingly inappropriate". "We respectfully submit that our courts are enjoined to severely punish accused persons who shoot and kill without reason," prosecutor Gerrie Nel said in his application.

On Friday (26 August) the state failed in its bid to have Pistorius' sentence extended to at least 15 years after Masipa decided to stick with her original punishment.

Nel, known in legal circles as "The Bulldog", argued Pistorius failed to show remorse and accused Masipa of failing to spot the difference between "genuine remorse and regret". The prosecutor said the sentence failed to recognise that Pistorius intended to shoot Steenkamp, the Supreme Court of Appeal's judgement that shots were not fired in self-defence and that Pistorius never offered an explanation why he shot through the door four times.

Barry Roux, defending, said the trial has been "exhausted beyond the point of exhaustion" and that Masida made the right decision at the July hearing. Friday's decision is unlikely to be the final hurdle as the State is now likely to petition directly to the Supreme Court.