Tick tock ... Oscar back in the dock
Convicted killer Pistorius’s remaining days of freedom are shortening.
When convicted killer Oscar Pistorius appears in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria today, the clock on his remaining days of freedom will start ticking.
Today was a date provisionally arranged, pending the outcome of his application for leave to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment, spokesperson for the judiciary Nathi Mncube said in a statement.
“The sentencing proceeding will start from June 13-17 at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria,” Mncube said.
In March, the SCA set aside Judge Thokozile Masipa’s culpable homicide – death by misadventure – conviction of Pistorius for shooting Reeva Steenkamp three times while she was locked in a bathroom.
A full bench of the SCA found Masipa had made errors in law and had ignored crucial evidence when she convicted Pistorius of culpable homicide.
“On a proper conspectus of all the evidence, the trial court ought to have found that the accused had been guilty of murder and not culpable homicide, and that his defence of putative private defence could not be sustained,” the SCA judgment read.
Dolus eventualis – legal intent – was a key factor of Pistorius’s trial.
“What was required, in considering the presence or otherwise of dolus eventualis, was whether he had foreseen the possible death of the person behind the door and reconciled himself with that event. The conclusion of the trial court, that the accused had not foreseen the possibility of death occurring as he had not had the direct intent to kill, shows that an incorrect test was applied,” the SCA wrote.
Judge Eric Leach said Masipa’s reasoning was “confusing”.
Pistorius will face a minimum 15-year sentence in June, unless his legal team can provide substantial and compelling reasons to deviate from the prescribed sentence. He served one-sixth of his five-year sentence for culpable homicide and was released in October to serve the remainder under correctional supervision.