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NPA will discuss sentence with prosecutors

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The head of the National Prosecuting Authority said on Tuesday he would discuss the five-year prison sentence handed down to Oscar Pistorius, and a possible appeal, with prosecutors.

“We will consult with the prosecution team and then take the matter forward,” National Director of Public Prosecutions Mxolisi Nxasana told Parliament’s portfolio committee on justice.

Deputy director Silas Ramaite added that senior prosecuting staff were “agitated” about the outcome of the case.

“We will meet with the prosecution team [and] do a post mortem of the various sentences,” he said.

“Senior people in the NPA are actually quite agitated, wrongly so I would say.”

They were responding to a question from African Christian Democratic Party MP Steve Swart.

Nxasana told reporters at Parliament later on Tuesday that the NPA regarded all convictions as a success.

“Even if a person was charged with the main count, and was ultimately convicted with an alternative count, we count that as a success in terms of our indicators.”

On whether the NPA was happy with the result of the Pistorius trial, Nxasana said: “My answer is clear; that we have to engage the prosecution team in the matter, read the judgment, read the transcripts, and take the matter forward and see what do we make out of the whole process.”

Only once this was done could the NPA either “pride ourselves that we’ve done a good job, or whether we can do anything about the matter as it stands”. SAPA


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