Oscar to fight prosecution appeal

Oscar Pistorius is fighting back against the fresh bid to have him convicted of murder.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Velekhaya Mgobhozi confirmed yesterday that Pistorius's lawyers want to challenge Judge Thokozile Masipa's decision to grant the state leave to appeal against her judgment.

"We will be appearing before Judge Masipa [next month]," he said.

Masipa convicted Pistorius, 28, of culpable homicide for the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, and sentenced him to five years in prison with the option of applying to have his sentence converted to correctional supervision after serving a sixth of it. This means he could be out of prison in August.

But in December Masipa granted the prosecution leave to appeal the conviction for culpable homicide, instead of murder, as well as Pistorius's sentence.

She agreed there were certain questions of law for the Supreme Court of Appeal to consider and these might have had an impact on her verdict.

Pistorius's lawyer, Brian Webber, would not comment yesterday. But someone in Pistorius's camp, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed his lawyers were looking to appeal the December ruling.