Paralimpic champ Pistorius guilty of murder as court overturns conviction

Pistorius, who was not present in court for the new ruling, has been under house arrest after spending one year of his sentence in jail.

The Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa ruled the lower court failed to accurately use the rule of dolus eventualis – whether Pistorius understood that the departure would have been a likely outcome of his activities.

Nearly 90% of social media activity on Thursday was dedicated to the ruling made by the Supreme Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein which found Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder.

South Africa’s once celebrated “Blade Runner” is now facing at least 15 years behind bars, rather than continued home detention in a family mansion – the sentence for his earlier culpable homicide judgement. He received a prison sentence of five years in addition to a three-year suspended sentence to be served at the same time on a conviction for reckless endangerment. The South African court of appeal Thursday, Dec. 3 2015 convicted Pistorius of murder, overturning a lower court’s conviction of the double-amputee Olympian on the lesser charge of manslaughter for shooting his girlfriend to death in 2013.

The state wants culpable homicide conviction upgraded to murder.

It was “common sense” that Pistorius must have known he was carrying out a potentially lethal act that “gambled with life” when he fired his gun through the closed toilet door, [Leach] said.

“Currently, the legal team is considering whether to appeal as it has 10 working days from the day the verdict was announced to lodge one”.

Pistorius maintained that he shot Steenkamp, a former model, accidentally, because he believed an intruder had broken into their Pretoria home.

The appeals court can also order a retrial or rule that the manslaughter conviction was correct.

Sky’s Alex Crawford, at the court, said the sentencing hearing could turn into a “mini trial” with Pistorius’ lawyers allowed to plead mitigating circumstances.

Reeva Steenkamp’s father, Barry, told South African television channel ANN7 that the judgment was fair.

According to the New York Times, the appeals court sided with the state prosecutors who argued the original conviction was based on a misinterpretation of laws and disregard of critical evidence. We put our faith in the justice system but now we can be assured that we’re going to get justice. I am sure she’ll be able to rest well now.

“This case involves a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions”, Judge Eric Leach said, as he read the ruling. “She was a joy in our life and that has gone out”.