BY JAMES SIMONS
Former Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius has been granted house arrest from prison to begin next Tuesday. The double amputee shot model and law graduate, Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s day 2013, and claimed he mistook her for an intruder. A South African judge sentenced him to five years for culpable homicide for the killing of his girlfriend.
In a statement, the parole board at the Kgosi Mampuru II prison stated it had approved his placement under correctional supervision for four years starting from October 20. The statement read “The parole board considered all submissions, including the offender’s profile report, the directives of the Parole Review Board and the submission of the victim’s family. “The Parole Board has also given the offender his correctional supervision conditions which include the directives of the Parole Review Board in respect of continued psychotherapy and prohibitions in line with the Fire Arms Control Act Section 103”. Under the correctional services, a prisoner is allowed to be released once they have served one sixth of their sentence. The Department of Correctional Services said it was not planning to reveal further details on the conditions of Pistorius’ release.
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The prosecution have appealled the culpable homicide judgement because they believe Pistorious should have been convicted for murder. The appeal will be heard on the 3rd of November. In order to prove murder, the prosecution will need to demonstrate that he had the required intention to kill or at least cause serious injury. Under the law of culpable homicide which led to the manslaughter conviction, a defendant is guilty of being negligent and reckless in causing death, without necessary having intended to do it. The appeal will center around arguments to persuade a judge to believe that Pistorious intended to kill his girlfriend, and that his version of mistaken identity is nothing but porkies.
Pistorius had been lying in bed with his girlfriend, but shot her when she was in the bathroom because he apparently thought she was an intruder. That argument is weak and holds no water at all, buit to convict of murder, intention myst be proved beyond ‘a reasonable doubt’. A doubt arose in the mind of the judge who presided over the case that it was possible, no matter how small, that he Pistorious just did not think and panicked. Considering the history of domestic violence between him and his girlfriend, and accounts of his foul temper also testified by his former girlfriend, it is very difficult to believe his version of events. However, proving this in court will take some real skill and demonstration of compelling logic. We shall see how that one goes.
“South African model Reeva Steenkamp died in February 2013 after she was shot at the home of her boyfriend, Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius. She was 29. Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide.”
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