Pistorius family: We abide by ruling

Pretoria - Oscar Pistorius's family on Wednesday said they would abide by the North Gauteng High Court decision to allow the State to appeal the Paralympian's conviction.

"We note the finding of the court and abide by the ruling," his uncle Arnold Pistorius said in a one-line statement.

Earlier, Judge Thokozile Masipa granted the State's application to appeal Pistorius's culpable homicide conviction, but dismissed the application to appeal his five-year jail sentence.

"The application for leave to appeal against sentence is dismissed," she said.

However, on the application against his conviction, she said: "I am satisfied that the points raised by the applicant [the State] are indeed a question of law."

The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein will deal with the matter at a date yet to be determined.

On 21 October, Masipa sentenced Pistorius to five years in jail for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

He shot her dead through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home on Valentine's Day last year, apparently thinking she was an intruder.

The State filed papers last month calling for a heavier conviction and harsher sentence.