Reeva's Mum: Pistorius Sentence 'Too Short'
Reeva Steenkamp's mother has told Sky News she believes Oscar Pistorius should have spent longer in prison for shooting dead her daughter.
The runner is currently under house arrest at his uncle's luxurious home in Pretoria after serving less than a year in prison for killing his girlfriend on Valentine's Day 2013.
Her mother, June Steenkamp, travelled to Bloemfontein to support South African state prosecutors as they tried to convince an appeal court panel that the judge at the runner's trial last year reached the wrong verdict.
:: As It Happened: Prosecutors Challenge Pistorius Conviction
In an interview with Sky News, she said: "He killed her and he's been in jail for 11 months and it's too short a time for taking someone's life.
"And even though I don't want to hurt him in any way, he has to face the truth … it's justice for Reeva.
"She lost her life, her career, having a child, her wedding and we lost her. It's sending a bad message to the public, especially the women of South Africa, that 11 months is enough time for killing somebody."
At the end of the eight-month trial, Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled the runner did not intend to kill model Ms Steenkamp when he fired four times through a locked toilet door at his home.
She believed the athlete's defence that he mistook his girlfriend for a burglar.
The judge went on to convict him of the lesser charge of culpable homicide - known as manslaughter in other countries - and gave him a five-year sentence.
Under South African law, the athlete became eligible to be put under house arrest after serving a sixth of that sentence.
He was released from jail a fortnight ago and is serving his house arrest at his uncle Arnold's spacious mansion complete with swimming pool, private gym and separate cottage.
:: Q&A With Sky's Legal Expert: What House Arrest Means For Pistorius
The state prosecutors want the appeal court panel of five judges to set aside that original conviction - and instead rule that the athlete murdered his girlfriend.
A murder conviction carries a much heftier sentence: a minimum of 15 years in jail in South Africa.
The state argued the trial judge misinterpreted the law of dolus eventualis - a Latin legal phrase meaning the act was carried out by the accused knowing it would lead to death and the accused went through with it anyway.
The prosecutors also said the judge wrongly applied the strict questions of law, and then answered them wrongly.
In the 45 pages which form the main basis of the state's appeal argument, the prosecutors listed over and over what they saw as the judge's mistakes: they quote her from her judgement saying, "The question is: did the accused foresee the possibility of the resultant death, yet persisted in the deed reckless whether death ensued or not? In the circumstances of this case the answer has to be no".
The prosecutors insisted this is wrong.
They pointed out that the runner was an expert marksman who would have certainly known that by shooting into a confined space like the toilet cubicle, it would definitely lead to the death of whoever was behind the door.
The televised proceedings lasted for three hours and judgement - which could take weeks - was reserved.
The panel can order a retrial; it can dismiss the appeal or it can overturn the original verdict and impose the more serious murder one as well as change the sentence.
The runner himself was not in court to watch his lawyers do battle for him again. They argued - perhaps unsurprisingly - that the trial judge was correct in her analysis and that the prosecutors were effectively trying to force through a mini retrial by pushing points already dismissed in the original court case.
