A South African high court has increased Oscar Pistorius’s prison sentence from six years to 13 years and five months, following his conviction in 2016 for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Prosecutors had initially hoped Pistorius, 31, would be sentenced to 15 years in prison, and argued that Judge Thokozile Masipa, who handed the former Olympic and Paralympic sprinter the lenient sentence, was influenced by Pistorius’s celebrity (Masipa ruled at the time that the lesser sentence was due to Pistorius’s apparent remorse.) They appealed, and today South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal increased the sentence to fifteen years, as reported by the New York Times.
Pistorius, who fatally shot Steenkamp four times through a bathroom door on Valentine’s Day in 2013, was first convicted of manslaughter, and was expected to serve the majority of that 5-year prison term on house arrest. The conviction was overturned so Pistorius could be charged with murder, and he was convicted on that charge in December 2015.
A family spokesperson told CNN the extended sentence was “justice for Reeva.”
Pistorius, who has argued he believed Steenkamp was an intruder, will serve an outstanding sentence of 13 years and five months.
