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. Under the principle of 'dolus eventualis', it does not matter whether Pistorius intended to kill Steenkamp, so much as the imaginary person whom he believed to be behind the door. The state would not be able to present any new items of evidence should it again seek to have Pistorius convicted of murder, Marius du Toit, a Pretoria-based criminal-defence lawyer, said by phone. "Whatever you argue has to be based on principles of law," Du Toit said. The double-amputee Paralympic gold medalist, referred to by some media as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped prosthetic blades, killed Steenkamp when he fired four hollow-point bullets in his bathroom at what he said he thought was an intruder. Nel had wanted at least 10 years for the manslaughter conviction. Pistorius' spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess didn't immediately respond to calls and an e-mail seeking comment. Pistorius' agent Peet van Zyl did not answer a call to his mobile phone. Additional reporting from Reuters