While we were all focused on the 54th ANC conference, notorious former athlete Oscar Pistorius quietly lodged an appeal to his latest sentence, in the constitutional court on Monday, 18 December 2017.
Judge Thokozile Masipa initially sentenced Pistorius to five years for culpable homicide back in 2014. He then served only 10 months of the sentence in prison before being released and put under house arrest.
The State appealed the first conviction which was later replaced with a murder charge by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) two years later. Judge Masipa gave Pistorius a six-year jail term for the second charge. After that, the State petitioned the SCA directly, arguing that the six-year sentence was far too lenient - hence the latest 13-year sentence.
Last month the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein increased his sentence to 13 years and five months in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. But after his expensive high profile case and subsequent appeals, one begins to wonder just how much Pistorius has shelled out in legal fees to date?
Convicted murderer, #OscarPistorius has approached the Constitutional Court to appeal his 13-year sentence. Criminal defence attorney Ulrich Roux joining @UvekaR on #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/L8dg2CWjk5
— eNCA (@eNCA) December 20, 2017
Well, criminal defense attorney Ulrich Roux estimates the amount to be somewhere around R20 Million to date. Speaking to eNCA’s Uveka Rangappa this morning, the attorney estimated the amount in addition to offering further insight into the latest developments in the case.
Back in 2014, the athlete had so sell the home in which Steenkamp died in order to cover his costs at the time. Towards the end of 2014, his legal costs were estimated at R17.5 Million.
According to Roux, if Pistorius’ current case stands, he will be eligible for parole in 2024 and it is highly possible that he could be released then.
He also stated that we will probably know the outcome of the latest appeal by the end of January 2018.
Main image credit: www.signalng.com