South African Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was found guilty of his girlfriend’s murder on Thursday when a court overturned an earlier manslaughter verdict.
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On 3 December, 2015, Judge Eric Leach at South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the appeal and said that Pistorius would now serve a sentence for murder rather than manslaughter.
Oscar Pistorius has now been found guilty of murder after his appearance in a South African court of appeals.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Thursday replaced Pistorius’s culpable homicide conviction with murder, ruling that he should have foreseen the deadly impact his four bullets would have in a small bathroom.
He is now under house arrest after spending one year of his original five-year sentence in jail. He said she misapplied the principle of “dolus eventualis” or the intent of the suspect and the trial court appears to have ignored the elements of the ballistic evidence, reports NBC.
“In firing the fatal shots, the accused must have seen that whoever was behind the door could die”, the judge said.
“Justice Leach argued the fact that Pistorius didn’t know Steenkamp was behind the door did not mean he is not guilty of murder”.
Delivering the ruling, which was broadcast live on television and radio, Judge Leach ominously began by saying “this case involves a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions”. This overturns an earlier conviction of culpable homicide which was handed by the North Gauteng High Court.
“He was sentenced to five years [for the culpable homicide]”.
Steenkamp’s mother June was present in court and smiled broadly as she left.
The verdict comes less than two months after Pistorius was released from prison on the lesser charge and placed under house arrest.
The victim’s father, Barry Steenkamp, said: “I’m satisfied with everything now”. He became the first double-leg amputee to qualify for the Summer Olympics, participating in the 400 meters and 4 x 400-meter relay.
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The disgraced paralimpian’s family said in a brief statement they were analyzing with lawyers the possibility of appealing.
