Oscar Pistorius’ legal team has 10 working days to lodge an appeal after a court ruling found the South African Paralympian guilty of murdering his girlfriend.
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Leach said that “the identity of his victim is irrelevant to [the runner’s] guilt”, as he knew firing shots at a closed bathroom door in the Valentine’s Day killing of the 29-year-old model could lead to a death.
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.
But all things aren’t equal, especially for Pistorius, a world-famous double amputee, and there are more legal battles to come – first a sentencing hearing on the new murder conviction, and then a possible constitutional court hearing.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, who originally found Pistorius guilty of South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter, will re-sentence the Paralympic champion at a later date.
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.
Advocate Mannie Witz has been referring to the conviction of Oscar Pistorius. Now, he will return to court and receive a new sentence.
Responding to the verdict, Pistorius’ family said their lawyers are studying the finding and will advise them on “options going forward”.
Pistorius’ family said it had “taken note” of the ruling by the appeals court, the second-highest court in the country.
According to South African law, an offender sentenced to five years or less may be released to correctional supervision after serving one-sixth of the term in prison.
Before the Pistorius case, few in South Africa had ever heard of dolus eventualis, or indirect intention, the obscure legal concept around which the Pistorius case revolves.
– Prosecutors win their bid in December after Masipa rules that she “cannot say the prospect of success at the Supreme Court is remote”.
Steenkamp’s father, Barry, told South African television channel ANN7 that he was relieved by the judgment and described it as fair. “The question is whether the previous judge misapplied the law or not”, Johannesburg-based criminal law attorney Zola Majavu said. He said he thought Ms. Steenkamp was still in his bedroom at the time.
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That’s the chance Pistorius took when he fired hollow bullets – created to fragment on impact – from a 9mm pistol through the door of a “very small” toilet cubicle, Leach said. Facts considered in the case include: the number of shots fired assert an intent to kill whomever was on the other side of the door, and was not an act of self defense as he made no effort to warn the alleged intruder.
