South African High Court Declares Oscar Pistorius Guilty of Murder After All

Here's a piece of moderately good news in this horrible world we're stuck in.

Five judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa have overturned the verdict of the trial judge in the original trial of amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius, who executed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his own home in February 2013 after she made the fatal mistake of arguing with him. They found that the trial judge, Thokozile Matilda Masipa, erred in acquitting him of murder and finding him guilty instead of lesser charges ( culpable homicide and a gun charge). They threw out her verdict and imposed a conviction of murder, and sent the case back to her to resentence Pistorius.

The Supreme Court ruled that “As a result of the error of laws referred to and on a proper appraisal of the facts, he ought to have been convicted not of culpable homicide on that count but of murder,”

Masipa had meted out a sentence of just 5 years to Pistorius, and a suspended sentence of 3 on the gun charge. In South Africa, people sentenced to no more than 5 years are entitled to release after just one-sixth of their sentence. Thus Masipa gave him a very generous gift. When his original release date came up (ten months into his sentence) and he was about to be freed, the public uproar was such at his release was delayed 2 months, forcing him to serve a whole one-fifth of the sentence.

Pistorius' family and their spokeswoman actually had the unmitigated gall to publicly whine that it was “unfair” to Oscar to have to cool his heels two more months in a prison hospital ward (to protect him), as if the earliest possible release was his entitlement.

Given Judge Masipa's proven bias in favor of the pistol-packing Pistorius, I anticipate she will sentence him to the minimum for murder, 15 years. He will get credit for the 1 year he did in prison, and maybe for the months of mansion-detention he has “served” since his release. I don't know how much of a 15-year sentence in South Africa must actually be served before eligibility for parole. As Pistorius is an unrepentant murderer who denies his guilt, he should have to serve the entirety of whatever sentence he gets.

The motivation and cause of the baffling reasoning of the trial judge have always been inscrutable to me. I have speculated half-facetiously that maybe she unconsciously resents pretty white blond women, and thus was inclined to let Pistorius off easy. Or maybe she wanted to prove how “fair” she is to white defendants by bending over backwards for this one. Or perhaps she admires athletes. Or has an amputee fetish. Who knows? Maybe she's just a lousy jurist. Certainly her decision in the trial flew in the face of the facts and of common sense.

Now, the high court has ruled her decision also flew in the face of South African law.

 OhhHH! I don't WANNA go back to jail!!

For the details of the case and original sentence, see “Murderer Oscar Pistorius Released FromPrison Early, Will Serve Rest of Sentence in Mansion-Detention,” October 20, 2015. For my analysis of the original trial and circumstances of the murder, see “Murderous Athlete andErstwhile Media Darling Oscar Pistorius Beats Murder Rap,” September 13, 2014.