Under the concept of “dolus eventualis” in South African law, a person can be convicted of murder if he or she knows that an action could cause someone’s death, but he or she does it anyway.
Advertisement
The minimum sentence for murder is 15 years, but the judge does have the discretion to lower it.
Under South African law, a murder conviction can be handed down if it can be proven that someone had realized the possibility of killing someone through their actions and continued with them nonetheless.
South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius waits before his sentencing hearing at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.in October past year.
In a packed courtroom with Reeva Steenkamp’s family listening to every word, the judge said that when Oscar Pistorius made a decision to fire four shots through a closed toilet door, he had gambled with a person’s life – whoever that was.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, issuing the ruling in court in Pretoria, also gave Pistorius a three-year suspended sentence for a firearms charge.
He is now under house arrest after spending one year of his original five-year sentence in jail.
“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.
“This case involves a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions”, Judge Eric Leach said as he started reading the ruling. The sight of Pistorius racing at the 2012 London Olympics was one of the enduring and inspirational images of the games.
“The accused ought to have been found guilty of murder on the basis that he had fired the fatal shots with criminal intent”, Leach said.
The case has prompted a fierce debate in a country beset by high levels of violent crime.
He denied killing Ms Steenkamp, 29, in a rage after the couple had gone to bed, sobbing and occasionally vomiting in the dock as details of his lover’s death were examined in excruciating detail. He had intention to kill regardless of who was behind the door.
Ms Steenkamp’s mother June, who has said she does not want retribution, left the court room shedding tears and carrying a single red rose.
Pistorius can challenge the ruling in the constitutional court but only if his lawyers can argue that his constitutional rights have been violated.
Advertisement
“I’m overwhelmed. The women of South Africa, the women of the whole world, have won today”, league spokeswoman Mapaseka Nkoane said outside the court.
