Oscar Pistorius Update: Judge Dismisses Prosecutors’ Appeal Over Reeva Steenkamp Murder Sentencing

Oscar Pistorius will not face harsher jail term for his conviction over the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a judge ruled Friday dismissing prosecutors' appeal over the paralympian's six-year sentencing. Pistorius was sentenced to six years in jail after the overturning of an October 2014 ruling that found him guilty of culpable homicide, which is equivalent to manslaughter in South African law.

South African Judge Thokozile Masipa rejected prosecutor Gerrie Nel's claim that Pistorius was given "shockingly too lenient" six-year jail term. Nel argued that Masipa had misdirected herself in law by handing down a punishment that was less than half of South Africa’s prescribed minimum 15-year sentence for murder.

"I am not persuaded that there are reasonable prospects of success for an appeal. The application for leave to appeal against the sentence is dismissed with costs," Masipa said in the High Court in Johannesburg.

Earlier this month, Pistorius was taken to hospital for wrist injuries, which many speculated to be an attempted suicide. However, Pistorius and his family later dismissed the claims, saying that he had slipped in his prison cell and injured himself.

Pistorius was found guilty of shooting and killing his girlfriend Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013 at his Pretoria home. He claimed that he fired his gun at the bathroom door (behind which Steenkamp is said to have been) because he thought an intruder was in his house.

"The court failed to take into account that the accused fired four shots through the door and he never offered an acceptable explanation for having done so," Nel told the hearing Friday, adding, "There was a massive chasm between regret and remorse."