Intro:

Lawyers representing Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius arrived at the High Court in Johannesburg on Friday morning (13th March), to challenge a decision to allow prosecutors to appeal against the runner's culpable homicide conviction, but fail in their attempt.

Script:

Lawyers representing Oscar Pistorius arrived at the High court in Johannesburg on Friday morning, in an effort to have an appeal against his culpable homicide conviction rejected.

Last September, Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for shooting dead his then girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a 29 year-old model.

He fired four shots through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home on Valentine's Day 2013, apparently thinking she was an intruder. He was jailed for five years.

State prosecutors argue that the more serious charge of murder was appropriate and were subsequently granted leave to appeal against the culpable homicide verdict by Judge Thokozile Masipa.

However, Judge Thokozile Masipa dismissed an application by Pistorius' defense lawyers to challenge the appeal by prosecutors, who were last year granted permission by Masipa to have Pistorius' negligent killing conviction reviewed.

SOUNDBITE (English) Thokozile Masipa, Judge in the Pistorius case

"In my view to entertain this application would be tantamount to reviewing my own decision. And I also think that procedurally it will be wrong to grant or refuse this application. Accordingly the order that I grant in this matter is to struck off the application."

The ruling means Pistorius' case looks set to go to South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal, where a panel of judges would decide if Masipa's initial verdict to acquit Pistorius of murder at the end of the seven-month trial last year was wrong.