Friday, December 4th, 2015. Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty for the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and may be sentenced to 15 years in prison. The initial sentence of Pistorius for “manslaughter” was changed to murder on Thursday, after a South African court raised the verdict.
The South African Supreme Court of Appeals, received the appeal of the prosecution, which called hardness in the five-year sentence for manslaughter, a position considered less than murder. The court found several errors in the first opinion, so they took the case determining that Pistorius should spend at least 15 years in jail.
The judges found that the Justice who judged at the beginning to the Paralympic champion, had “several mistakes” in a verdict cataloged of “confusing” case, and endorsed the fact that the athlete was able to predict the possibility of killing someone to shoot four opportunities through a locket toilet door in his house; causing the death of his girlfriend, February 14, 2013.
On Valentine’s night, Pistorius shot four times Steenkamp through the door of the bathroom; where the model had been locked in the house where he lived. After his first conviction in 2014, he was released from prison a year later under house arrest in a luxury home property of his uncle, where he spent the equivalent of a sixth part at the initial judgement.
This verdict, issued on September 12th; generated controversy and a series of protests by lawyers, citizens and groups who criticized the decision of Judge Thokozile Masipa, to exonerate Pistorius murder. The outcome of this case turned to the principle of “dolus eventualis”, which is regarded as the legal principle that the author had suspected that their action could cause someone’s death, yet continued firing.
Masipa last year, found that the State had failed to prove that Pistorius had the intention of killing his girlfriend. But prosecutors who handled the case for the last time, objected that this was a misuse of the principle of “dolus eventualis” and that the athlete understood that shoot through the door would cause the immediate death of who was inside the area.
The hypothesis was rejected by the defense attorney today found guilty of murder, “the only factual finding was that Oscar Pistorius was afraid and thought Reeva was in bed,” explained Barry Roux.
At the moment of hearing held of Bloemfontein this Thursday, Pistorius was not present, but his mother June did. International media reports indicate that the athlete estimated as a living legend, will return to prison pending a final judgment in which there is no possibility of appeal.
ALFA