Court to give ruling on state’s appeal in Pistorius case

OSCAR Pistorius will find out today whether he will be branded a murderer for shooting his girlfriend. This morning, the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein will deliver its ruling on the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) appeal against the result of Pistorius’s murder trial. Judge Eric Leach, one of the five appeal judges who heard the case on November 3, is expected to deliver the judgment. Pistorius‚ 29‚ was acquitted of murder in September last year but was found guilty of culpable homicide. He shot dead former Port Elizabeth model Reeva Steenkamp‚ who was 29, through a locked door in his Pretoria home on February 14 2013. He claimed he fired the four shots through the door of the toilet in the bathroom adjoining his bedroom believing that there was an intruder inside and that his life and that of Steenkamp were in danger.

Pistorius was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment but was released into correctional supervision in October. The NPA asked the appeal court to reconsider certain questions of law in the case. One of these was whether the high court in Pretoria had correctly applied the principle of dolus eventualis. Dolus eventualis is a form of intent that means if a murder accused foresaw the possibility that his actions may cause someone’s death, reconciled himself with that and went ahead, he is guilty of murder. The Pretoria High Court found that Pistorius did not foresee that he could kill someone, but the prosecutors argued that his actions showed the contrary. The defence argued that the prosecution was trying to appeal against the high court’s factual findings instead of questions of law and that was not permitted by the Criminal Procedure Act. Should Pistorius be found guilty of murder, he could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.