South African paralympian Oscar Pistorius has filed an appeal against his murder conviction. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last month overturned Oscar Pistorius's culpable homicide conviction and replaced it with murder. Pistorius' legal team petitioned the Constitutional Court on Monday, arguing that the SCA has exceeded its jurisdiction.
"SCA's exceeding of its jurisdiction in this regard goes to the very heart of its decision that the applicant was guilty of murder," his lawyer Andrew Fawcett said, according to eNCA.
The petition termed the murder conviction unfair and questioned SCA's verdict saying that the court has neglected the factual findings by the trial court, according to SABC.
"The SCA unfairly discriminated against the applicant on the ground of his disability, vulnerability and anxiety, which is prohibited by section 9(4) of the Constitution," the petition said, according to Mail & Guardian.
"The legal requirements for putative private defence were not a question of law referred to the SCA under section 319 of the CPA (Criminal Procedure Act). Therefore, with respect, the SCA had no statutory authority to interfere with either the trial court's legal or factual finding of putative private defence," it argued. However, it is not clear whether the Constitutional Court will accept the petition or not.
Paralympian Pistorius, popularly known as the "Blade Runner," was found guilty of murder last year after being convicted of killing his girlfriend and TV star Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013, as HNGN reported previously.
