South African appeals court convicts Pistorius of murder

CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press


JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African appeals court on Thursday convicted Oscar Pistorius of murder, overturning a lower court's conviction of the double-amputee Olympian on the lesser charge of manslaughter for shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to death in 2013.

Justice Lorimer Eric Leach of the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered the ruling by the five-judge appeals court in Bloemfontein and directed the trial court, the North Gauteng High Court, to impose sentence.

"The accused ought to have been found guilty of murder," Leach said to the courtroom, in which Steenkamp's mother sat.

A 15-year prison sentence is the minimum punishment for murder in South Africa. However, the law allows for a lesser sentence to be imposed in exceptional circumstances.

Pistorius was placed under house arrest in October after serving one year in prison. He had been sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter. His lawyers can also argue that he should be shown leniency because he is disabled.

Pistorius, 29, killed Steenkamp in the early morning of Valentine's Day. He insisted he thought she was an intruder behind the door of a toilet cubicle in his home. The prosecution said Pistorius shot Steenkamp during an argument.

Leach said regardless of who might have been behind the door, Pistorius should have known someone could be killed if he fired.

"The identity of his victim is irrelevant to his guilt," the judge said.

Under the concept of "dolus eventualis" in South African law, a person can be convicted of murder if they foresaw the possibility of someone dying through their actions and went ahead anyway.

Reeva Steenkamp's mother, June, sat quietly in the courtroom during the announcement, which was carried on TV. Pistorius was not there.

Pistorius, a multiple Paralympic champion, became one of the world's most famous athletes and the first amputee to run at the Olympics and the able-bodied world championships. He was known as "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fiber running blades

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Associated Press writer Lynsey Chutel contributed to this report.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-12-06

A sad affair indeed, but it must be satisfying for the girl,s family to see justice finally served after what amounted to a mere slap on the wrist in the first ridiculous sentencing.

I hope this POS gets anally probed nightly.

Kurt

I wonder at the politicisation of this case.

If he were not a celebrity, would there by any of this legal tennis going on.

By legal tennis, I mean the constant returning of the case back and forth between the various parties (Steenkamp's family, the prosecution, the Justice dept, the judges, the courts and the defence. No one wants to adopt the "hang him high" position because he is a disabled and possibly troubled man who would probably not survive long in a regular prison, never mind among the general prison population in South Africa. On the other hand, the authorities do not want to be seen to be easy on a privileged white guy who murdered his high society girl-friend.

So many issues are at play here - gun control, feminism, disability, celebrity, race and class.

If he were not so well-known, I guess that we would have had a case made in a few short months and a conviction for murder with a 15 year sentence a few weeks later. Full stop.