Court clears Pistorius of all murder charges

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was yesterday cleared of all murder charges over the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, but judge Thokozile Masipa said his decision to shoot repeatedly into the toilet cubicle at his house was negligent, leaving the door open for a culpable homicide conviction today.

After a morning of high drama at the North Gauteng high court in which the judge made a number of pronouncements that raised eyebrows among South Africa’s legal professionals, she adjourned proceedings after speaking for several minutes on negligence.

Under strain

Mr Pistorius was visibly under strain and cried a number of times as Ms Masipa read out the reasoning behind her verdict, but he showed signs of relief after she rejected the premeditated murder and murder charges because the evidence against him was “purely circumstantial”.

In the early hours of St Valentine's morning last year, the athlete fired four shots through a closed toilet door, killing Ms Steenkamp, who had spent the evening with him at his Pretoria home.

During his trial, prosecutors had argued he did so after an argument with Ms Steenkamp, but the defence maintained Mr Pistorius thought an intruder had gained access through the toilet window and their client shot through the door as he feared for his life.

“The state has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder,” the judge said, adding: “There are just not enough facts to support such a finding.”

She dismissed the evidence provided by witnesses as unreliable and labelled Mr Pistorius a “very poor witness” who contradicted himself.

She described him as “evasive” and said he failed to listen to questions because he was worried of the impact of his answers.

In addition, she rejected the defence that he was under emotional stress, traumatised and medicated.

Conclusion

However, none of this justified a conclusion of guilty of murder by the court, she said. A number of legal analysts said this line of reasoning could give the state an opportunity to appeal the verdict.

Mr Pistorius can now only be convicted of culpable homicide by reason of negligence or acquitted. The former is defined as the unlawful killing of a person without an intention to kill and carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

After lunch, South Africa’s first black female high court judge explained the test of the “reasonable man” – which asks what a reasonable person would have done in the accused’s shoes – was used to determine whether Mr Pistorius was negligent or not.

She concluded that Mr Pistorius had a number of options open to him to avoid the resultant death that he failed to choose.

Upon thinking he heard an intruder, she said he could have yelled from the balcony, phoned for help, or tried to flee the house, all of which would have taken less time than the option he took: to get his gun, approach the toilet and shoot four times.

Judge Masipa went on to say Mr Pistorius’s conduct could be better explained by looking at his background and upbringing, which involved a paranoid mother who always slept with a gun close by. But, she said, this was just an explanation and not an excuse.

“Many people in this country have been victims of crime and not resorted to firearms,” she said. “The accused acted too hastily and used excessive force. It is clear his conduct was negligent.”

She then abruptly adjourned proceedings to 9.30am today.

Outside the court hundreds of people gathered to watch the large media contingent in action, and the various participants in the case arriving for judgment day.

Little sympathy

In general, it appeared there was little sympathy for South Africa’s fallen hero.

Michael Natshengu (36) and Tshepo Letswalo (27) from Pretoria said they had been following the case on and off over the past few months, but their interest had increased because they were keen to see how a verdict was delivered in a high-profile case like this.

"We have a lot of problems with violence against women in South Africa and a strong message needs to be sent out that women should be protected, not harmed," he said.

A 30-strong contingent of the African National Women’s League made their presence felt too throughout the day, singing songs and holding placards that read: “You kill a woman; you kill a nation”.