ANC Women’s League To Lobby For Appeal On Oscar Judgment The African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League on Tuesday said it will make submissions to the State to appeal the verdict of culpable homicide handed down to Oscar Pistorius on the grounds that it is in the interest of the public. The League released a statement earlier today in which it said it had already sought legal opinion on the proceedings of the case and interpretation of the judgement. “Regardless of what the outcome of the sentencing is today, the ANC Women’s League remains dissatisfied with the verdict delivered by Judge Masipa finding Mr Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide instead of murder,” it said. “Our conviction on this matter arises on the basis that we believe regardless of whom Mr Pistorius believed was behind the bathroom door on that fateful night, Mr Pistorius shot to kill and therefore a murder did occur.” The League said it consistently campaigned for harsh sentences in all cases of violence against women and children: “A particular focus has been placed on cases where women die in the hands of their partners and the murder of Reeva Steenkamp at the hands of her lover, Oscar Pistorius, has once more brought this matter sharply to the fore,” it said. The League said it was highly concerned with the number of women murdered in the country. It said statistics show a woman is killed every eight hours in South Africa. “This situation is abnormal and should be unacceptable to every citizen hence we would want to see this verdict being expunged as a precedent setting case in our statutes,” it said. Pistorius was earlier sentenced to five years behind bars for the death of Reeva Steenkamp. He was handed down a further three-year wholly suspended sentence for negligently firing a gun under the table at Tasha’s restaurant. In terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, Pistorius may be released after serving a sixth (10 months) of his sentence if it is under five years, depending on good behaviour. Both the Pistorius and Steenkamp families said they were satisfied with the ruling and would not appeal.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 19:23:36 +0000
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