Oscar Pistorius faces 15 years in jail
GUILTY OF MURDER
PRETORIA: The new year will bring no joy for Oscar Pistorius as he faces a possible 15-year jail sentence after the Supreme Court of Appeal yesterday overturned his conviction on culpable homicide and found him guilty of murder.
Pistorius’ future not only looks bleak, but it is also uncertain whether he will be able to spend Christmas at home or in jail.
Judge Eric Leach ordered trial court Judge Thokozile Masipa to resentence Pistorius.
This comes exactly six weeks after Pistorius was released after serving a year in jail following his five-year sentence on a charge of culpable homicide. He was due to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest at his uncle Arnold’s Pretoria mansion.
National Prosecution Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku could not at this stage say whether Pistorius would, meanwhile, have to return to jail or not.
It is also not clear when he will return to the high court in Pretoria to be resentenced.
Senior advocate and acting judge Francois Botes said the only certainty at this stage was that Pistorius would return to prison.
“In terms of our law the starting point is 15 years imprisonment for murder on the doctrine of dolus eventualis. It could be less if the court finds there are compelling circumstances warranting a lesser sentence.”
According to him, Pistorius could be back in court in February, as soon as the new term started.
Botes said this was basically the end of the road for Pistorius, as his only further option was to appeal to the Constitutional Court.
“But there is no constitutional point to appeal. It is a well-reasoned judgment.”
Pistorius family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said: “The legal team will study the finding and we will be guided by them in terms of options.”
Five judges unanimously found that Judge Masipa incorrectly applied the principles of dolus eventualis in concluding that Pistorius was guilty of culpable homicide. Dolus eventualis arises if the perpetrator foresees the risk of death but nevertheless continues to act, appreciating that death may occur.
Judge Leach said the trial court’s consideration of dolus eventualis centred on whether Pistorius knew that the person he shot on the morning of Valentine’s Day 2013, in the toilet cubicle of his Silver Woods estate in Pretoria East, was his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Masipa concluded at the time that dolus eventualis had not been proved, as Pistorius thought Steenkamp was in the bedroom. He thus did not foresee that she was the person in the toilet. According to her, he was not guilty of murder as he could not foresee that he would kill Steenkamp.
“What is at issue is not whether the accused had foreseen that Reeva might be in the cubicle when he fired the fatal shots at the toilet door, but whether there was a person behind the door who might possibly be killed by his actions,” Judge Leach said.