The appeal court said the concept had been incorrectly applied by Judge Masipa in the original trial.
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South Africa’s “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius was found guilty on Thursday of murdering his girlfriend, in an appeal court ruling that could see him sent back to prison for at least 15 years.
The former track star is now under house arrest at his uncle’s mansion in Pretoria.
While Pistorius had been cleared of planned homicide accusations in September 2014, he was later sentenced to five years in jail for his lesser allegation of the punishable crime, otherwise called careless murdering. Pistorius may now make his own appeal to South Africa’s Constitutional Court – the country’s highest court. Under this principle, the identity of the victim should not matter, the judge said. No sentencing date has been set.
“The legal team will study the finding and we will be guided by them in terms of options going forward”, a Pistorius family spokeswoman said in a brief statement.
I feel it’s a fair decision that the judge gave.
His legs were amputated below the knees when he was 11 months old because he was born without fibula bones due to a congenital defect.
The trial of Pistorius, who became a global icon as the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics in 2012, attracted worldwide attention.
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the lower court did not correctly apply the rule of dolus eventualis – whether Pistorius knew that a death would be a likely result of his actions. He meets a young woman of great natural beauty and a successful model.
“I needed admiration for my little girl’s life and that is the thing that I got today”, she included. Throughout the #oscarpistorius trial she supported the superstar. The prosecution said Pistorius shot Ms Steenkamp during an argument.
Another added: ‘Masipa must still hand down sentencing for the murder conviction now, after she misinterpreted the law.
“It is inconceivable that a rational person thought he was entitled to fire at this person with a heavy-duty firearm”, said Leach, who described Pistorius’s testimony as “vacillating and untruthful”.
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Guilty of murder with the accused having criminal intent … Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, June, closed her eyes as the decision was read out in the Bloemfontein court. He speculated that prosecutors would want the sentencing process to proceed swiftly rather than let Pistorius remain under house arrest for an extended period.
