South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is to seek an appeal against his conviction for murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
The athlete’s defence lawyer has filed an application to South Africa’s Constitutional Court, urging a review of his murder conviction.
Pistorius killed Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013 after firing four times through a locked toilet door.
He claimed he mistook her for a bugler and prosecutors argued he did not plan to kill her.
The Supreme Court upgraded the 29-year-old athlete’s sentence to murder from culpable homicide, South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence.
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the lower court did not correctly apply the rule of dolus eventualis – whether Pistorius knew that a death would be a likely result of his actions.
Known as “Blade Runner” because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he used to race, Pistorius now faces a minimum 15-year jail sentence for murdering his girlfriend.
Pistorius won six Paralympic gold medals and was the first double-amputee runner to compete at the Olympic Games.
