He served a year of a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter in the shooting death of his girlfriend, before he was released and put under house arrest at his uncle’s mansion in October.
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The court ruled that the trial judge erred a year ago when she convicted Pistorius of “culpable homicide,” the equivalent of manslaughter, for killing Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her through a bathroom door in 2013.
However, Judge Eric Leach of the Supreme Court of Appeal said Judge Masipa misinterpreted a legal concept known as “dolus eventualis” saying that Pistorius had to have known that whoever was on the other side of the door could have died due to his actions.
Now found guilty of murder, Pistorius faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 20 years as a first time offender, said Witz.
– Pistorius arrested and charged with murder after firing four shots at his model and law graduate girlfriend Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door at his luxury Pretoria apartment.
Pistorius won six Paralympic gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012, but he is internationally known for qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Turning to the circumstantial evidence, Leach said it was crucial evidence in the trial and could not be ignored, including testimony by the police’s ballistics expert Chris Mangena. The prosecution said Pistorius shot Steenkamp during an argument.
Ms Anneliese Burgess, the Pistorius family’s spokesman, said the family would wait for the lawyers’ advice on what to do next.
Pistorius’s family said their legal team was still reviewing the ruling and they would not be commenting at this stage.
” ‘Let us now all get on with our lives, ‘ Barry Steenkamp said. We’ve got respect for Reeva, we’ve got respect for women, and I think there is a lack of respect for women in this country”.
“Although he may have been anxious, it is inconceivable that a rational person could have believed he was entitled to fire at this person with a heavy-calibre firearm, without taking even that most elementary precaution of firing a warning shot, which Pistorius said he elected not to fire because he thought the ricochet might harm him”.
He was not present when five judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein delivered their verdict.
He added: “A young man overcomes huge physical disabilities to reach Olympian heights as an athlete”. We miss her every day.
Yes, but only if his lawyers are convinced that the appeal judges violated his constitutional rights.
“As a result of the errors of law referred to and on a proper appraisal of the facts, he ought to have been convicted not of culpable homicide on that count, but of murder”. South Africa’s North Gauteng High Court, which tried Pistorius a year ago, will handle sentencing.
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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.
