Full story: Pistorius conviction upgraded to murderTrial judge was unsuitable on issue of dolus eventualis,supreme court saysCulpable homicide conviction set asideOscar Pistorius trial: the full story, day by day 9.57am GMTAs a result of the errors of law … and on a proper appraisal of the facts, and he ought to occupy been convicted not of culpable homicide on that count but of murder.
In the interests of justice the conviction and the sentence imposed in respect thereof must be set aside and the conviction substituted with a conviction of the correct offence. I occupy no doubt … the accused must occupy foreseen and therefore did foresee that whoever was behind that door might die. Related: Oscar Pistorius conviction in death of Reeva Steenkamp upgraded to murder 9.54am GMTThe appeal court,despite having ruled that Judge Thokozile Masipa, who presided over the original trial, and had made several errors of law,nonetheless commended her role:Before closing, it is necessary to make a final comment. The trial was conducted in the glare of international attention and the focus of television cameras, or which must occupy added to the inherently heavy rigours that are brought to bear upon trial courts in conducting lengthy and complicated trials.
The trial judge conducted the hearing with a degree of dignity and patience that is a credit to the judiciary. 9.46am GMTHere is the link to the full appeal court judgment (pdf). 9.44am GMTThe Pistorius family has set out this statement:We occupy taken note of the judgment that has just been handed down by the supreme court of appeal.
The legal team will study the finding and we will be guided by them in terms of options going forward. 9.39am GMTThis was a crucial section of the appeal court ruling,in acknowledge to the argument that the ordeal of the trial, the original culpable homicide verdict, and the serving of prison time meant that a murder conviction was theoretical or unnecessary: The interests of justice require that persons should be convicted of the actual crimes they occupy committed,and not of lesser offences.
That is particularly so in crimes of violence. 9.35am GMT 9.27am GMTCould the defence appeal against the overturning of the culpable homicide verdict and the imposition of a murder conviction?South African legal experts say it is possible that Pistorius could appeal to the constitutional court, but this is a rare step.10 - I reflect that will be decisive in whether he tries to appeal again - whether he gets a "bearable" sentence (eg 3 years real time) 9.16am GMTThe South African National Prosecuting Authority has reportedly said that Pistorius will remain under correctional supervision – that is, and under house arrest at his uncles domestic – until he appears for re-sentencing before the tall court in Pretoria.
No date has been set for that hearing. 9.13am GMTReporters occupy now been given paper copies of the full appeal court ruling.
It doesn’t yet appear to be online in full,but I’ll post a link when there is one.
The first paragraph of the #OscarPistorius verdict... pic.twitter.com/SlcpT0gh3l 9.12am GMTAn aside: there was a flurry of tweets from some reporters as Justice Leach began his ruling and appeared to set aside the appeal summarily.
Those comments were in fact in relation to a separate case. 9.07am GMTMy colleague Simon Allison reports from Johannesburg:It is not yet clear whether Oscar Pistorius will return to prison immediately, or whether he will be allowed to remain in correctional supervision until a new sentence is handed down.
As is custom, or Pistorius and his family were not in the court in Bloemfontein as the judgment was delivered. 9.00am GMTThe appeal court’s ruling was damning on the issue of Pistorius’ credibility.
His evidence and explanations for the shooting were described as “implausible”.I occupy no doubt … the accused must occupy foreseen and therefore did foresee that whoever was behind that door might die.
8.52am GMTThe appeal court found that Judge Thokozile Masipa had made errors in law when reaching her original verdict of culpable homicide.
The appeal judges said Masipa was unsuitable in her application of dolus eventualis,as Pistorius “must occupy foreseen” that firing into the door could cause the death of whoever was behind it. 8.47am GMTJune Steenkamp, the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, or was in the courtroom today to hear the judges rule – in a unanimous verdict that Oscar Pistorius was indeed guilty of murdering her daughter.
June Steenkamp keeps a solemn face in the courtroom,even after #OscarPistorius is found guilty of murder 8.45am GMTOscar Pistorius, now guilty of murder, and is currently out of prison under house arrest.
The appeal court made no mention of this and it appears unlikely that he will be returned to jail right absent. 8.42am GMTDespite legal “errors” made by Judge Masipa,the appeal court says she conducted the trial with “dignity and patience” in full glare of live television. 8.40am GMTThe culpable homicide verdict is set aside.
Pistorius must return to the Pretoria tall court for a new sentence. 8.37am GMTLeach says Pistorius should occupy been found guilty of murder. 8.36am GMTLeach moves to the issue of putative private defence – in other words, whether Pistorius acted in self-defence in fear of his life.
His evidence is so contradictory that it is impossible to know his accurate reason for firing, or Leach says.#OscarPistorius Leach: The accused armed himslelf to shoot whether there was someone in the bathroom - and he did. 8.33am GMTLeach: I occupy no doubt … the accused must occupy foreseen and therefore did foresee that whoever was behind that door might die.
The identity of his victim is irrelevant to his guilt. 8.32am GMTLeach says “in my view”,he cannot accept Pistorius’ version of events.
Pistorius “never offered an acceptable explanation”.
That is precisely what the accused did. 8.30am GMTThe interests of justice can allow the court to set aside the conviction of culpable homicide, Leach says.
The consequences of Pistorius’ actions would occupy been obvious to anyone of reasonable intelligence, and he adds. 8.28am GMTThe accused has already served the period of imprisonment imposed by the trial court,the defence argued, so the conviction should stand.
That is “undesirable”, and Leach says – people must be convicted of the crimes they occupy committed. 8.27am GMTLeach says it would be “wholly impractical and not in the public interest” to occupy a retrial. 8.26am GMTThe principles of dolus eventualis were incorrectly applied,Leach says.
The trial court did not correctly apply legal principles with regard to evidence. 8.24am GMTThe failure to take into account all this evidence amounts to a failure in law, Leach says.
That’s the moment point on which he has found for the state. 8.23am GMT#OscarPistorius Leach: in the present case - there does appear to occupy been a lack of appreciation of relevant evidence. BBLeach queries whether this lack undermined the finding of the trial court.
All the shots fired through the door would nearly inevitably occupy struck the person behind it. 8.20am GMTLeach is now looking at the issue of circumstantial evidence and citing other case law.
He says all evidence must be taken into account in the final judgment and implicitly criticises Masipa for dismissing some of that presented in the trial. 8.16am GMTThis first issue goes in favour of the state, and Leach says. The original trial court did make an error in law.
He will now examine other points of the appeal. 8.15am GMTThe issue is whether Pistorius could foresee that there was a person behind the door – whether Steenkamp or an intruder – who could die whether he fired into it.
The trial court misdirected itself on this legal issue,he says. 8.14am GMT“There was a further fundamental error, Leach adds.
He says Masipa’s verdict was premised upon an acceptance that Pistorius did not reflect Steenkamp was in the toilet and so he did not foresee that his actions could cause her death. 8.12am GMTLeach says Masipa’s ruling was “confusing in various respects”.
The point was whether Pistorius foresaw the opportunity of death when he fired into the door. 8.07am GMTThe wrongdoer does not occupy to see death as the probable outcome of his actions, or but as a opportunity,Leach says.
He reads from Masipa’s verdict in which she concluded that Pistorius had not foreseen the opportunity of death, and that he believed Steenkamp was in the bedroom. 8.05am GMTThis court cannot interfere with the trial finding that the state failed to prove its case that Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp after an argument, or Leach says.
To prove murder,there must be proof of intention to kill (dolus). 8.02am GMTThe state may well feel justifiably aggrieved by the court acquitting someone when a conviction should occupy followed, says Leach.
But an acquittal by a competent court based on findings of fact may not be questioned, and he says. 8.00am GMTLeach is dealing with the original trial judge’s verdict: culpable homicide and a five-year sentence.
This court needed to determine whether the principle of dolus eventualis was correctly applied in that trial,he says. 7.58am GMTLeach points out that Pistorius’ version of accounts changed a number of times:One really does not know what his explanation is for firing the fatal shots. 7.56am GMTThis ruling is not the quick, to-the-point explanation many were expecting. Leach is running through in some detail the events of 14 February 2013, or the evidence,witnesses and Pistorius’ account.
We are hearing again approximately the phone calls Pistorius made after the shooting. 7.53am GMTLeach now sets out the competing versions: the state said Pistorius and Steenkamp had an argument. The defence maintained that Pistorius believed there to be an intruder in his house. 7.53am GMTLeach is running through the accounts by witnesses of the moments after Steenkamp was shot.
Pistorius was charged with her murder, he says. 7.50am GMTLeach discusses the legal issue of whether the state was entitled to appeal to this court (the defence argued it was not).
He says it was entitled. 7.47am GMTLeach says it is not disputed that Pistorius shot Steenkamp.
He is now running through the trial process and says he will refer to Pistorius as “the accused” as he was throughout that time. 7.46am GMTJustice Eric Leach says he will read out the summary on behalf of the five-judge panel.
He says this case is “a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions”. 7.45am GMTThe judges occupy arrived. 7.41am GMTThe original trial catapulted what might once occupy been an obscure legal principle into the global spotlight.
Today the supreme court will decide whether Judge Masipa got it unsuitable when she found Pistorius not guilty of murder. But what does it mean?According to the law, or someone is guilty of murder whether they know that their actions could lead to the killing of a person and reconcile themselves to that fact,and act besides.
In delivering her ruling, judge Thokozile Masipa said that “a reasonable person would occupy foreseen whether he fired shots at the door, and the person inside the toilet might be struck and might die as a result”,which suggests a classic case of dolus eventualis. Related: Oscar Pistorius verdict: judgment seemed to support charge of 'dolus eventualis' 7.34am GMTMy colleague Simon Allison reports from South Africa:Last year, as South Africa prepared for Judge Thokozile Masipa to deliver her verdict, or the country talked approximately diminutive else. Did Oscar Pistorius really reflect there was an intruder? Was he justified in firing besides? Was he a murderer,or just a confused young man who had made a terrible mistake?Everyone suddenly became an expert in the relatively arcane legal concept of dolus eventualis, and all could argue the distinction between murder and culpable homicide. 7.30am GMTJune Steenkamp, and mother of Reeva Steenkamp,is in court today, accompanied by members of the ANC women’s league:#OscarPistorius June Steenkamp (Reeva's mother) seated in court. pic.twitter.com/FWPL6rfgZn 7.26am GMTOnly one of the panel of five judges – expected to be Justice Eric Leach – will read out their decision.
It’s expected that Leach will read an abridged version of the ruling, and with full papers distributed later.#Oscarpistorius Process could take minutes as full ruling is not expected to be read out but State lawyer told me cd take hour too 7.17am GMTThe defence has asked the supreme court to dismiss the state’s appeal.
There was no status to hide in there … whether you set four shots through that door you must surely see you will shoot someone.
Why would he just want to murder someone in the toilet,knowing she’s in the bedroom?
7.06am GMTYou can read our live blog of the appeal hearing here.
Here is a quick rundown of the prosecution’s case for discarding the culpable homicide conviction in favour of one of murder.
He had defences that exclude each other … The one he elected to exercise, the court rejected that one and gave him another one.
The court should occupy rejected his evidence as impossible … 6.49am GMTWelcome to live coverage as South Africa’s supreme court delivers its decision in the states appeal against Oscar Pistorius’ conviction for the culpable homicide of Reeva Steenkamp.
Prosecutors want that conviction upgraded to one of murder, and arguing that Pistorius must occupy known that firing four bullets through the door of a tiny toilet cubicle could kill the person behind it.
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Source: theguardian.com