Oscar Pistorius murder conviction sought by South Africa prosecutors

South African judges have heard an appeal on whether athlete Oscar Pistorius should be convicted of murder instead of culpable homicide. The Paralympian was released from prison last month after serving one year of his five-year term for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius, 28, shot her through a locked bathroom door in 2013 but insists he thought she was an intruder. He could be sent back to jail if appeal judges overturn the original verdict. Pistorius is currently under house arrest, and did not attend the hearing at South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. The appeal was heard by some of South Africa's most senior judges from across the racial and gender divide. They did not take any new evidence.
They simply heard arguments from the prosecution and defence over whether the lower-ranking trial judge applied the law correctly especially the charge of dolus eventualis, also known as common-law murder. In South African law, this charge applies if the accused knew they might kill someone but still went ahead with their course of action.

The prosecution argued that Pistorius should have foreseen that by firing four shots through a locked door into a toilet cubicle, the person behind the door would have been killed. The trial judge disagreed and the prosecution tried to convince the appeal judges to overturn that verdict. A whole day was set aside for the hearing, but it ended early. The judges will give their ruling at a later date.




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