Pistorius verdict changed to murder

Pistorius will have to return to court to be re-sentenced, for murder.

He spent a day less than a year behind bars for shooting dead his girlfriend and model Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013, a case which continues to fascinate South Africa. The runner should have known that someone could be killed when he fired four times through the door of a toilet cubicle, according to the prosecution.

In this case the state argued that Pistorius knew that the act of firing his gun through the door of his bathroom would lead to death.

Under South African law you can not just shoot – you first need to determine that the threat to your life is real and that there is no other way to eliminate that threat but to shoot. He had intention to kill regardless of who was behind the door.

“I have no doubt … the accused must have foreseen and therefore did foresee that whoever was behind that door might die.”

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

Mr. Pistorius had been a national hero in South Africa during his athletic career, but many South Africans were outraged by the lower court’s decision to reject the murder charge and convict him only of culpable homicide.

“The argument is that where there’s been a mistake in law that’s been made – that is the only reason that an incorrect verdict has been reached – it would be offensive to the interests of justice in order to allow that verdict to stand”, she said.

He is now under house arrest after spending one year of his original five-year sentence in jail.

What follows now will be a matter of a possible appeal by Oscar Pistorius and the reality that he could serve a lengthy jail sentence in connection with Reeva Steenkamp’s untimely death.

Anneliese Burgess, the Pistorius family’s spokeswoman, said the media need not camp outside the home of the athlete’s uncle in a wealthy suburb of Waterkloof in the capital Pretoria where he has been living since being released on parole.

FILE – In this October 21, 2014 file photo Oscar Pistorius, center, arrives outside the court in Pretoria, South Africa, where he will finally learn his fate when judge Thokozile Masipais is expected to announce the Olympic runner’s sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. No date has been given for this new sentencing ruling.

“If the court finds against Pistorius, he’s got big problems as he would have to be sentenced afresh”.

Pistorius can appeal to South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, but only if he is able to prove that his constitutional right to a fair trial was infringed during the highly publicized hearing, said Witz.

“I really don’t care how long it is, as long as he pays for what he’s done and he takes responsibility”.

Pistorius’ family said it had “taken note” of the ruling by the appeals court, the second-highest court in the country.