Oscar Pistorius cleared of murder; guilty of culpable homicide

Followers of the Oscar Pistorius trial are in shock to learn that the Paralympian has been cleared of murder although found guilty of culpable homicide (the equivalent of manslaughter in Australia) over the shooting and death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The court found that the South African athlete, a double amputee, pictured above on the cover of Time magazine, shot Steenkamp dead through the toilet door of his luxury home in February, 2013, with Judge Thokozile Masipa expressing belief in Pistorius’ claim he thought he was shooting “an intruder”, and calling the evidence for premeditated murder “purely circumstantial”. Judge Masipa did add, however, that Pistorius acted “too hastily” in firing shots and that his response was “negligent”.

Public opinion began to sway last week towards thoughts of another “OJ Simpson-like” situation where, if the sports star were freed of charges of criminal action, public and social media backlash would certainly have ensued. As it is, the victim’s half-brother Adam Steenkamp has told media that he believes Pistorius “got away with murder”.  Antonino Tati