Two, the accused’s conviction and sentence on count one are set aside and replaced with the following: guilty of murder with the accused having had criminal intent in the form of dolus eventualis.
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Pieterseon had previously expressed his support for the Steenkamp family following the original ruling.
“Blade Runner” Pistorius could now be sent back to jail for at least 15 years for shooting Steenkamp dead on Valentine’s Day 2013.
He spent a year in prison and was released in October to serve the remainder of his five-year sentence under house arrest.
The Paralympian was originally convicted of culpable homicide – similar to manslaughter – after a lengthy trial. Prosecutors said he killed her after an argument; Pistorius said he killed her by mistake, thinking there was an intruder in the house.
As a result the conviction was changed to murder. In acquitting Pistorius of murder, Masipa ruled that Pistorius could not have anticipated that someone might die before he shot four times through a door into a toilet cubicle, killing Steenkamp. The identity of the victim isn’t significant in such cases. No sentencing date has been announced. Some legal experts have raised the prospect of the athlete’s lawyers appealing the case to the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa, arguing that Pistorius received an unfair trial.
Leach said that regardless of who Pistorius said he thought was behind the door, he should have known someone could be killed if he fired.
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He is now serving the remainder of his culpable homicide sentence under correctional supervision at his uncle’s home in Pretoria. Masipa, who presided over the trial, must now study the Supreme Court’s ruling and hand down a new sentence, Witz said. His voice breaking with emotion, he said of his daughter: “I’m sure she’ll be able to rest as well now”.
