South African prosecutors to appeal Oscar Pistorius' verdict and sentencing

South African prosecutors are to appeal Oscar Pistorius' acquittal on murder charges and his five-year jail sentence for the conviction of manslaughter of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The National Prosecuting Authority will tomorrow file its application to appeal, spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke said. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had sought a conviction for premeditated murder in the seven-month trial at the High Court in Pretoria, the capital.

"We'll be appealing the verdict and the sentence," Makeke said, declining to disclose the grounds for an appeal. "As the state, we are limited as to what we can appeal against."

Judge Thokozile Masipa cleared Pistorius, 27, of murder charges last month while convicting him of culpable homicide, or manslaughter, for killing Steenkamp in the early morning hours of Valentine's Day last year. Pistorius can be transferred to house arrest after spending 10 months in jail.

During the sensational seven-month trial, the state failed to convince Masipa of Pistorius' intent to kill when he fired.

However, Masipa's decision to rule out murder was criticised by several legal experts and the Women's League of the African National Congress (ANC) as an erroneous interpretation of 'dolus eventualis', the legal principle by which a person is held accountable for the foreseeable consequences of their actions.

A possible error of law opens the way for an appeal by the state.