Cape Town - The fact that paralympian Oscar Pistorius felt anxiety and vulnerability on his stumps before shooting to death his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, did not reduce his blame for her murder, the State argued in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday.
"If we look at this court's finding and its appeal judgment it defeats the argument that feeling of anxiousness and vulnerability reduced the blame on the respondent," said State prosecutor Andrea Johnson.
The SCA is hearing an application by the State for leave to appeal a six-year sentence imposed on Pistorius by the high court in Pretoria.
Pistorius was resentenced by Judge Thokozile Masipa last year after the SCA overturned his culpable homicide conviction in December 2015, finding him guilty of murder instead.
Johnson argued Masipa did not take into account the brutality of the crime, and the fact that he armed himself with a high calibre weapon and ammunition which was designed to "mushroom on striking a soft target such as human flesh".
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"It wasn't just the four shots, it wasn't just the high calibre firearm and ammunition, it was not knowing what threat he was faced with," said Johnson.
"There's no reasonable explanation but even if he thought in his mind there was an intruder, there was no threat. He could not tell the court and he did not know what the danger was."
Pistorius shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on Valentine's Day in 2013.
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He claimed he shot through the bathroom door because he thought she was an intruder. The SCA held in December 2015 that even if Pistorius thought there was an intruder in his home, he should have foreseen his actions would lead to a killing.
By mid-morning the State had concluded its arguments as to why the court should hear the appeal.