JOHANNESBURG: South African authorities on Friday denied issuing an arrest warrant for Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted on appeal of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, rejecting an earlier report by a local television station. 'It is not the case,' National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku told Reuters. 'No such warrant has been issued.' The Supreme Court on Thursday upgraded the 29-year-old athlete's sentence to murder from 'culpable homicide', South Africa's equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence. A murder conviction normally carries a minimum 15-year jail sentence. ENCA television had earlier reported that a warrant of arrest had been issued for the paralympic champion. Pistorius had been meant to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest on his uncle's property in a wealthy suburb of the capital Pretoria. A new sentence will be handed down at a later date, Mfaku said.