Oscar Pistorius Convicted Of Murder In South Africa

This week Supreme Court Judge Eric Leach said Judge Masipa had misinterpreted the concept of dolus eventualis and upgraded the conviction to one of murder.

However, an appeals court has now overturned the original verdict, meaning he will have to return to court to be re-sentenced for murder.

The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa is 15 years, but exceptional circumstances in the case of the former track star, including time already served, his disability and status as a first-time offender, could mean he will get a lower sentence.

Under the manslaughter conviction, Pistorius was sentenced to five years in jail.

Leach said the court was entitled to set aside the conviction of culpable homicide and order a retrial, but the appeals court found that a retrial was not in the interests of justice and instead imposed the murder conviction.

The appeal court’s deconstruction of her rulings makes for grim reading for Judge Masipa, who has been on the receiving end of intense and often personal criticism ever since she issued her judgment previous year.

Pistorius was initially convicted of culpable homicide. In the meantime, he’s expected to remain under the house arrest he was released to this fall while he waits for a new sentencing hearing.

Meanwhile, there was little or no activity at the Pistorius residence after the appeals court ruling.

Pistorius was handed a five-year jail term last October for the “culpable homicide” of Steenkamp, whom he killed by firing shots through a locked bathroom door on Valentine’s Day 2013.

– Prosecutors win their bid in December after Masipa rules that she “cannot say the prospect of success at the Supreme Court is remote”. But the appeals court rejected this, finding that Pistorius was well-trained in the use of weapons and knew what he was doing.

Steenkamp’s father, Barry, told South African television channel ANN7 that he was relieved by the judgment and described it as fair.

They claimed that the accused must have known that firing into a toilet cubicle four times could cause someone to die. The prosecution tried to depict Pistorius as an angry boyfriend who intentionally shot his model-girlfriend as she cowered behind a toilet door.

The Supreme Court ruling will no doubt add fuel to the debate. Under this principle, the identity of the victim should not matter, the judge said.

“It saddens me that 20 years after my sister Nicole’s murder, we are still seeing the same crimes, just different names, over and over again”, she said.

Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby, denies deliberately killing Steenkamp, saying he mistook her for an intruder at his home.