Oscar Pistorius convicted of murder by appellate court

The judge described the Paralympian’s testimony over the 2013 shooting of Reeva Steenkamp as “untruthful” and delivered a damning indictment of the original verdict.

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has expressed his delight after Paralympics runner Oscar Pistorius’ culpable homicide conviction for killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was upgraded to murder. Now, he will return to court and receive a new sentence.

At the crux of the case was how trial judge Thokozile Masipa interpreted the principle of “dolus eventualis” – awareness of the likely outcome of an action – under which she acquitted Pistorius of murder.

Dolus eventualis refers to whether a person foresees the possibility that his or her action will cause death but carries on regardless.

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.

“The legal team will study the finding, and we will be guided by them in terms of options going forward”, the family said in a statement.

Today, the judge, said: “A person should be committed of the crime he has convicted”.

At the time, she said in her ruling: “There is no basis for this court to make the inference that the accused wanted to kill the deceased…The conduct of the accused shortly after the incident is inconsistent with someone who had wanted to commit murder”.

The Supreme Court of Appeal overturned a lower court s conviction against Pistorius on the less serious charge of manslaughter, adding another twist to a case that riveted people around the world because of its gripping saga of a celebrity athlete’s plunge from grace at his own hand.

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.

Yes. He will be back behind bars, less than two months after he was placed under house arrest. The prosecution tried to depict Pistorius as an angry boyfriend who intentionally shot his model-girlfriend as she cowered behind a toilet door.

Steenkamp’s relatives, who were in court, embraced upon hearing the ruling. “If you took note of what I’ve said right from the beginning, it’s not over yet, it’s not over yet…it’s over now”. Steenkamp’s mother, June, sat impassively as Leach read the verdict.

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