The South African Supreme Court threw out on Thursday the manslaughter conviction of Paralympian athlete Oscar Pistorius for the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Feb. 12, 2013. It found him guilty of murder.
Judge Lorimer Leach explains that when double amputee Pistorius fired four bullets, he was aware that the person behind the door could die. Leach also criticized High Court Judge Thokozile Masipa for sentencing in October 2014 the athlete to a five-year prison term for Steenkamp's death, reports Bloomberg.
The 29-year-old Pistorius in under house arrest in his uncle's residence in Pretoria after he was released from jail. The athlete faces the possibility of a minimum 15 years prison term. He was not at the hearing held in Bloemfontein, but Steenkamp's mother was present.
Leach said that Masipa's original judgment had a fundamental error. He said she misapplied the principle of "dolus eventualis" or the intent of the suspect and the trial court appears to have ignored the elements of the ballistic evidence, reports NBC.
Leach found the case a "human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions" because of the double tragedy that hit Pistorius who, despite having his legs amputated when he was 11 months old and using curved, carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, won six gold medals at three Paralympic Games and even competed against able-bodied runners at the 2012 Olympic Games hosted by London, and now is going to jail for the murder of his model-girlfriend.
Pistorius insists that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder inside his house in Pretoria, and he killed her by mistake. But the prosecutors claimed he intentionally shot her after they allegedly fought.
Following the conviction, the International Paralympic Committee banned Pistorius from participating in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro until he completes his sentence.