Oscar Pistorius found guilty of culpable homicide in Girlfriend's Death

A South African judge on Friday found Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide, or negligent killing, in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and declared him not guilty of murder and premeditated murder. Judge Thokozile Masipa said Friday that the double-amputee athlete was not guilty of murder, as prosecutors had alleged. She ordered Pistorius to stand before she delivered the verdict. On Valentine’s Day last year, when the pictures of Pistorius being led in to the back of a police van, the question seemed simple enough. Did he know it was Reeva behind the door? Matters have since become rather more complicated, but to that question, there is now an answer. No. The state, in the form of the prosecutor Gerrie Nel, could not provide any proof to the contrary.

 Judge Masipa’s conclusion had been made plain the day before, but on Friday morning, Pistorius was asked to stand up to be told as much. And while the tears from the friends and family of his deceased girlfriend grew louder, Judge Thokozile Masipa told him: “The unanimous decision of this court is the following. The accused is found not guilty [of murder] and is discharged. Instead he is found of guilty of culpable homicide.”On the three lesser gun charges, Pistorius was found not guilty on two counts, and guilty on one. On the charge of firing his gun through the sunroof of a car in 2010, the proof was not there. On the unlicensed ammunition found in the safe at his home – which he said had belonged to his father, who did have a licence for it – Judge Masipa said there was no “criminal intention” to his possession of it. But on the charge of unknowingly or accidentally discharging a firearm under the table in a restaurant just a few weeks before he shot and killed Ms Steenkamp, there was clear evidence of negligence and he was found guilty.