Arrest Warrant Issued for Oscar Pistorius a Day After Murder Conviction

Posted by Odinaka on Fri 04th Dec, 2015 - tori.ng

An arrest warrant has been issued for Oscar Pistorius the day after the Blade Runner who is under house arrest at his uncle's, was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Oscar in one of his court appearances

Just a day after South Africa's top appeal court returned a murder verdict, an arrest warrant has been issued today by the country's prosecuting authority for 29-year-old popular blade runner, Oscar Pistorius.

They are pushing for the Olympic runner to appear in court as soon as possible so a date can be set for his sentencing.

Spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Luvuyo Mfaku, said he must appear at North Gauteng High Court 'as a matter of extreme urgency' and the court will determine any bail amount at that time.

However, the ENCA television news channel said the NPA would not enforce the arrest until next week when the disgraced Paralympian, who is currently out of jail on house arrest, is expected to apply for bail.

The runner's family said its legal team will advise on legal options following the murder conviction against Pistorius, who shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.

Oscar and his beautiful girlfriend, Reeva whom he murdered on Valentine's Day 2013

South Africa’s leading criminal law academic, Dr James Grant, who spoke to MailOnline, advised the prosecution on their appeal against Pistorius’ sentence, and predicted that the state would argue for Pistorius to return to jail pending his sentencing in the New Year.

"The situation is very different now from his earlier bail applications when he was first an accused and then convicted of culpable homicide.

He has now been found guilty of murder, a far more serious crime so the considerations are now different.

As in all cases concerning a conviction of murder, the state is likely to argue that Pistorius has much more of an incentive now to attempt to evade his sentencing hearing and poses a considerably greater flight risk now.

The increase in severity of the conviction between culpable homicide and murder will accompany an increased risk of flight.

Of course, his team may argue that he is too easily identifiable to attempt to evade justice."