Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of murder after a
South African appeals court overturned an earlier manslaughter verdict.
Pistorius killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013 after
shooting four times through a locked toilet door.
He is currently under house arrest after spending one year of his
original five-year sentence in jail.
Pistorius will have to return to court to be re-sentenced, for murder.
Pistorius, a six-time Paralympic gold medallist whose legs were amputated
below the knee as a baby, made history by becoming the first amputee sprinter
to compete at the Olympics, in 2012, running on prosthetic "blades".
The minimum sentence for murder in South Africa
South African law does not make provision for someone to be placed under
house arrest for more than five years, so Pistorius will be going back to
prison, reports the BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg
Will he
return to jail?
Yes. He will be back behind bars, less than two months after he was
placed under house arrest.
When
will he be sentenced?
We don't have a date yet, but it will be next year. The minimum sentence
for murder is 15 years, but the judge does have the discretion to lower it.
Can he
appeal?
Yes, but only if his lawyers are convinced that the appeal judges
violated his constitutional rights. So it's a high threshold, and hard to meet.
So is
this the end of Pistorius' professional athletics career?
Almost certainly. He's 29, and will be past his prime by the time he is
freed. It is also unlikely that advertisers would want to sponsor him, as the
Pistorius brand is now tainted.
Barry Steenkamp fought back tears as he told ANN7 TV: "I'm sure that
Reeva sitting up there... will be able to rest as well now."
Pistorius' family gave a brief response, saying lawyers are studying the
finding who will advise them on "options going forward".
The panel of appeal judges described the case as "a human tragedy of
Shakespearean proportions" in
their written judgement.
Reading the unanimous ruling reached by the five judges, Justice Eric
Leach said that having armed himself with a high-calibre weapon, Pistorius must
have foreseen that whoever was behind the door might die, especially given his
firearms training.
"As a matter of common sense at the time the fatal shots were fired,
the possibility of the death of the person behind the door was clearly an
obvious result," the judge said.
"And in firing not one but four shots, such a result became even
more likely."
Pistorius always maintained that he believed there was an intruder in the
house but the judge said that the identity of the person behind the door was
"irrelevant to his guilt".
Justice Leach compared it to someone setting off a bomb in a public place
not knowing who the victims might be.
The judge also rejected the argument that Pistorius had acted in self-defence.
He said that the athlete's life was not in danger at the time of the
shooting, as Pistorius did not know who was behind the door or if they posed a
threat.
The judge added that Pistorius did "not take that most elementary
precaution of firing a warning shot".
Pistorius did not attend the hearing in Bloemfontein
But Ms Steenkamp's mother, June, was present and afterwards she was seen
outside the court being embraced by members of the African National Congress
Women's League, who were singing songs of celebration.
The double amputee was released from prison on 19 October as he was
eligible for release under "correctional supervision", having served
a sixth of his sentence.
Pistorius can challenge the ruling in the constitutional court but only
if his lawyers can argue that his constitutional rights have been violated.
Legal expert Mannie Witz told the BBC that there do not appear to be any
grounds for such an appeal.
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