Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder

Olympic sportsman Oscar Pistorius continues to be found guilty of homicide after an earlier manslaughter verdict overturned.

Justice Lorimer Leach of the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered the ruling by the five-judge appeals court in Bloemfontein on Thursday. South Africa’s North Gauteng High Court, which tried Pistorius a year ago, will handle sentencing.

While for Pistorius the continued legal battles are his only chance of avoiding more prison time, for Reeva Steenkamp’s family the saga merely prolongs their heartache. It’s defined as “awareness of the likely outcome of an action”-essentially, did Pistorius know what was going to happen when he shot into that bathroom door”.

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.

He 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. The minimum sentence for murder is 15 years, but the judge does have the discretion to lower it.

– Supreme Sourt of Appeal overturns Masipa’s ruling and finds Pistorius was guilty of murder. “She really struggled with that and took a long time to make her decision”.

– Running on carbon fibre prosthetic blades which earn him the nickname “Blade Runner”, Pistorius becomes a Paralympic gold medallist over 200m in Athens in 2004.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The heart of the murder case against Oscar Pistorius has relied on a section of South African criminal law known by the Latin term of dolus eventualis. First it shows that South Africa has a strong legal system.

The Pistorius family released a statement saying their lawyers would study the judgment. “In doing so he becomes an worldwide celebrity, he meets a young woman of great natural beauty and a successful model, romance blossoms, and then, ironically on Valentine’s Day, all is destroyed when he takes her life”. The prosecution argued he killed her after an argument.

The defence argues that Oscar Pistorius has already served the period of imprisonment imposed by the trial court, so the conviction should stand.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority will wait for word from the trial court about possible sentencing dates, said Luvuyo Mfaku, a spokesman for the authority.

“I feel so proud now that she’s got some respect and she hasn’t lost her life for nothing”.

But Ms Steenkamp’s mother, June, was present and afterwards she was seen outside the court being embraced by members of the African National Congress Women’s League, who were singing songs of celebration.

“It’s over now”, Reeva Steenkamp’s father told South African media.

This verdict highlights the importance of appeal processes and that different judges can reach different conclusions. Pistorius who after being released from prison has been under house arrest for the lessor charge must now return to prison.