State prosecutors in South Africa have begun a Supreme Court appeal to scale up Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius’ culpable homicide conviction to murder.<br /><br /> The 28-year-old was released on house arrest in October 2015 after serving almost 12 months of a five-year jail term for shooting dead his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.<br /><br /> Prosecutors will argue high court judge Thokozile Masipa misinterpreted parts of the law when she ruled the state had failed to prove intent to murder.<br /><br /> They say Pistorius must have known the person he fired at four times from behind a closed door could have been killed. <br /><br /> A panel of five judges will determine the merit of the appeal. They could order a retrial, convict the athlete of murder or reject the appeal altogether, according to legal experts.<br /><br /> Pistorius was not present at the one-day hearing. If convicted of murder, he faces a minimum 15-year prison sentence.
