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Oscar Pistorius could be forced to return to jail

Oscar Pistorius could return to jail on Thursday if South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal scales up the track star’s conviction for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp from manslaughter to murder.

The Paralympic gold medallist was released on parole in October after serving a fifth of his five-year prison term for the “culpable homicide” of Steenkamp, whom he killed by firing four shots through a locked toilet door on Valentine’s Day 2013.

Prosecutors said Pistorius, 29, should be convicted of murder and sent back to jail because he knew the person behind the door could be killed when he fired.

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A murder conviction would result in a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

“The judgment will be delivered at 9:45am (6:45pm AEDT) on 3 December 2015 at the Supreme Court of Appeal,” the court said in a statement.

Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby, denied during his six-month trial that he deliberately killed Steenkamp, saying he mistook her for an intruder at his home.

High Court Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled last year that the state had failed to prove Pistorius had shown “intent” or “dolus eventualis”, a legal concept that centres on a person being held responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their actions.

The state argued at the appeal that Judge Masipa misinterpreted some parts of the law, including “dolus eventualis”.

If the court of appeal overturns Judge Masipa’s verdict, she will be responsible for passing a new sentence on Pistorius, according to legal experts.

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