News
South Africa: Oscar Pistorius cleared of murder
Although he has been cleared of the 2 murder charges, he could still be convicted of culpable homicide for the negligent or reckless killing of Steenkamp, hit by four 9mm rounds fired through the toilet door at Pistorius’s Pretoria home.
Culpable homicide carries up to 15 years in jail. Alternatively the double-amputee could be acquitted, allowing him to leave the court and potentially resume his career as one of the biggest names in world athletics.
As the 66-year-old Masipa began her methodical review of the 41-day trial and the charges – which also include 3 unrelated firearms offences – a pained and forlorn Pistorius bowed his head in the dock.
Masipa, only the second black woman to rise to the bench in South Africa, has remained impassive throughout the often dramatic and gruesome court proceedings, seemingly impervious to the global interest in a case that has drawn comparisons to the 1995 murder trial of American football star O.J. Simpson.
In one early blow to Pistorius, she said defence allegations of police contamination of the crime scene “paled into insignificance”. However, as she drew up a detailed timeline of the shooting, she questioned the reliability of multiple state witnesses, including that of a neighbor who testified to hearing the terrified screams of a woman before and during shots.
She also rejected a mass of instant messaging evidence presented by both prosecution and defence to suggest, respectively, that the couple’s relationship was on the rocks or loving and strong. “Normal relationships are dynamic and unpredictable most of the time, while human beings are fickle,” she said. “None of the evidence of a loving relationship, or a relationship turned sour, can assist this court.”
The case has transfixed millions around the world who admired Pistorius, a man whose lower legs were amputated as a baby but who reached the semi-finals of the 400 meters at the London Olympics in 2012. That same year, Time magazine included him in its list of the world’s 100 most influential people, “the definition of global inspiration”.
