Oscar Pistorius' prison sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, has been doubled following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Friday?. The Paralympian will now serve 13 years and five months - more than seven years longer than his original sentence of six years. Oscar killed Reeva on the 14 February 2013 after shooting her four times through a bathroom door. He later claimed that he believed that she was an intruder.
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Oscar's sentence has been doubled
Although Oscar was initially found guilty of manslaughter, the charge was changed to murder on appeal in 2015. According to the MailOnline, Reeva's sister Simone Cowburn was in tears when she was informed of the verdict, and a spokesperson for Reeva's family has said that the ruling "verified there was justice". Prosecutors sought a longer jail time for Oscar after claiming that a six year sentence was "shockingly light". The Supreme Court of Appeal judges were unanimous in the sentence, with Judge Willie Seriti calling the original sentence "inappropriate".
Reeva was killed in 2013
The National Prosecuting Authority announced plans to challenge the sentence back in 2016, stating that the "sentence of six years imprisonment, in all circumstances, is disproportionate to the crime of murder committed [and] shockingly lenient". Speaking about the decision to appeal the sentence, the Steenkamp family spokesperson said: "June and Barry have always fully supported (prosecutor) Gerrie Nel and his team's fight for justice for Reeva. As they have no input in the decision of the state to appeal, they are focusing their energy on the upcoming official media launch of The Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation on 19 August, on what would have been Reeva's 33rd birthday, at Sun International's The Boardwalk, in her home town of Port Elizabeth."
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Oscar denied the charges in his original trial. In a statement that was read by his lawyer, Barry Roux, he said: "Reeva and I were deeply in love and I could not have been happier. It was pitch-dark in the bedroom. I did not have my prosthetic legs on and felt extremely vulnerable."