It has been a good day for Oscar Pistorius’s defence team as Judge Thokozile Masipa acquitted Pistorius of all murder charges including both dolus directus and dolus iventualis.
Judge Masipa also found Pistorius guilty of discharging a friend’s firearm at a restaurant in Melrose Arch as he put the lives of the people in the vicinity in danger.
1) Shooting and killing Reeva Steenkamp
Found not guilty because the state could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Pistorius intended to kill his girlfriend.
He is found guilty of culpable homicide for unlawfully and negligently shooting and killing a person.
2) Discharging a firearm through a car sunroof
Found not guilty and discharged in terms of section 120 (3(b) of Firearm Controls Act.
3) Discharging a firearm at a restaurant
Found guilty of contravening section 120 subsection 3(b) of the Firearm Controls Act.
4) Possessing unlicensed ammunition
Not guilty and discharged for contravention of section 90 of firearms act for possessing a .38 ammunition without a license for a .38 firearm
Meanhwile, the NPA on Friday said it was disappointed by the ruling of the High Court in Pretoria, which acquitted Oscar Pistorius of murder and found him guilty of culpable homicide.
“At this point the matter is not concluded. We are still waiting for the sentence. It’s only after the sentence that the NPA can weigh its options and see whether they can take the matter forward,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Nathi Mncube told reporters outside the court.
“We feel at this point we should respect the process that is still underway.”
Mncube said the court should consider denying Pistorius bail as he was a flight risk.
“He has gotten rid of all his movable assets so we feel he is a flight risk at this point. Except his family, he doesn’t have anything keeping him in South Africa,” he said.
“The court must consider keeping him in custody until the matter is finished.”
Pistorius was also acquitted on charges of illegal possession of ammunition and one charge on the illegal discharge of a firearm in a public place.
He was found guilty on the illegal discharge of a firearm in Tashas restaurant in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, in January 2013.
On Thursday, Judge Thokozile Masipa acquitted Pistorius of murder finding that the evidence with regard to the charge was “purely circumstantial”.
However, she said Pistorius was negligent when he fired four shots into a toilet cubicle that killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013.
Pistorius, 27, said he thought an intruder was behind the door of the toilet in his Pretoria home when he shot through it.
The State argued the murder was premeditated.
Pistorius pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, and to three firearm-related charges.
