The state has opposed Oscar Pistorius’ application to appeal his murder conviction on the grounds that there was “no reasonable prospect” of him succeeding.
This was according to its opposing affidavit lodged with the Constitutional Court.
“It is our respectful submission that the SCA committed no errors of law and that the arguments by the applicant are without merit and contrived,” senior deputy director of public prosecutions in the priority crime litigation unit, Andrea Johnson, said in the affidavit.
“I submit that it is in the interests of justice that criminal trials ought to be finalised without undue delay and submit that it is in the interests of justice that the applicant [Pistorius] now appears before the trial Court to be sentenced on the crime he has committed.”
In his application, Pistorius argued that the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) exceeded its jurisdiction by questioning the trial court’s factual findings, and could thus not have convicted him of murder.
It also discriminated against him on the grounds of his disability, according to papers his lawyers filed with the Constitutional Court earlier this month.
