Pistorius
Judge Thokozile Masipa has ruled out Oscar Pistorius's guilt on the charge of murder.
Masipa explained to the court that the case against Pistorius for premeditated murder rested solely on circumstantial evidence which she said was not strong enough to prove the athlete's guilt, and which could be explained in a manner compatible with the athlete's innocence.
The judge then ruled out Pistorius' guilt on the lesser "murder with intent" charge, ruling that there was no way that Pistorius could have known that his actions would lead to the death of the person in the bathroom - whether that was Reeva Steenkamp or the intruder that Pistorius claims he believed had entered his house.
Breaking for lunch, the judge said that she would discuss the "culpable homicide" charge - manslaughter, in the British terminology - when the court returns.
In giving her summar the judge said that Pistorius made one of the worst witnesses she had ever seen under cross-examination, strongly criticising his inconsistencies, belligerence and evasiveness, and his efforts to place blame on witnesses or even his own defence counsel.
Explaining that those defects do not lead to an inference of guilt, however, Masipa detailed that, "the evidence failed to establish that the accused had the intention to kill the victim... There are just not enough facts to support such a finding."
She added that she believed Pistorius's show of remorse when emergency services arrived was genuine, and therefore ruled out murder entirely.
Pistorius will not be much comforted by being found innocent on the most serious charges against him, however. The judge's gloomy appraisal of the athlete and his "plethora" of defences suggests that the athlete may well be found guilty of the "culpable homicide" charge.
If that is the case, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
-- source: Eurosport
No comments:
Post a Comment