Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide

 

Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of culpable homicide for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Judge Thokozile Masipa found the paralympian's actions were 'negligent' on the night he killed Ms Steenkamp in February 2013.
Pistorius, dubbed the Blade Runner due to his prosthetic limbs, has always admitted he had shot the model.
He said he mistook her for an intruder and fired four bullets from his 9mm pistol through the toilet cubicle in his Pretoria home.
Judge Masipa criticised Pistorius' decision to reach for his gun and fire it through the cubicle rather than raise the alarm or fire a warning shot.
She also accused the 27-year-old of being a poor witness, muddled over his defence and a liar.
She told him: "A reasonable person therefore, in the position of the accused with similar disabilities would have foreseen that the possibility that whoever was behind the door might be killed by the shots.
"They would have taken steps to avoid the consequences and the accused in this matter failed to take those consequences."
Summing up she said: "Having regard to the totality of this evidence in this matter, the unanimous decision of this court is the following: On count one, murder, the accused is found not guilty and discharged. Instead he is found guilty of culpable homicide."
Pistorius showed little emotion as the guilty verdict - South Africa's equivalent of manslaughter - was read out. The charge carries a maximum jail term of 15 years.
The judge had begun the day dealing with the three firearms charges which were unrelated to last year's Valentine's Day shooting.
Pistorius was found guilty of discharging a firearm at a restaurant in Johannesburg on January 11, 2013.
But he was acquitted of firing a gun through a car sunroof while with his then-girlfriend Samantha Taylor and friend Darren Fresco on November 30, 2012.
He was also cleared of illegally possessing .38 ammunition. Pistorius had denied all three charges.