Oscar appeal: Heads of arguments due next week

Oscar appeal: Heads of arguments due next week

Oscar Pistorius's legal team has until next week to submit its heads of argument in the State’s appeal against the former athlete's conviction.

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"Members of the media are advised that the due date for the respondent’s heads of argument in the matter of Mr Oscar Pistorius is 17 September 2015," judiciary spokesperson Nathi Mncube said in a statement.

"The appeal will be heard at the Supreme Court of Appeal (Bloemfontein) in November 2015."

On September 12 last year, Pistorius was acquitted of murder, but convicted of culpable homicide for shooting dead his model and law-graduate girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in the early hours of February 14 2013.

He fired four shots through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home on Valentine's Day, apparently thinking she was an intruder.

On October 21, Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison for killing Steenkamp, and to three years - suspended for five - for discharging a firearm in a restaurant.

The State is appealing his conviction.

Last month, Pistorius was set to be released on correctional supervision, but at the last minute Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha decided to suspend the decision.

Following a letter from the Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa protesting against Pistorius’s release during "Women’s Month", Masutha referred the decision to release him into correctional supervision back to the parole board.

He said the board had taken its decision prematurely when it met in June.

(File photo: Gallo Images)

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