A South African appeals court on Thursday convicted
Oscar Pistorius of murder, overturning a lower court's conviction on the lesser
charge of manslaughter for shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to death in
2013.
Judge Eric
Leach ruled Thursday that the Paralympic gold medalist should have foreseen
that his firing of a gun would have killed whoever was behind the door in his
bathroom, regardless of whether he thought it was Steenkamp or an intruder.
State prosecutors appealed the verdict of culpable
homicide, seeking a conviction on more severe charges.
The original court judgment had been
"fundamentally flawed," …."The accused ought to have been found
guilty of murder," Leach said to the courtroom, in which Steenkamp's
mother sat.
A 15-year prison sentence is the
minimum punishment for murder in South Africa. However, the law allows for a
lesser sentence to be imposed in exceptional circumstances.
Pistorius shot at and killed his girlfriend Reeva
Steenkamp, a model, four times through a locked toilet door on Valentine's Day
2013, saying he mistook her for an intruder.
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