Judge Thokozile Masipa said evidence before the court shows “that the accused acted negligently” when he fired shot through a toilet door and that he was not guity of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp but culpable homicide – South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter.
She said that the “accused cannot be found guilty of murder, dolos directus or dolus eventualis, on basis on his belief and conduct, it cannot be said that he foresaw that either the deceased or anyone else for that matter might be killed when he fired the shots at the toilet door.”
Judge Maspia added that Pistorius was guilty of negligently handling a firearm in a restaurant, but acquitted him of firing a gun from his car.
Yesterday, the judge ruled that “there are not enough facts” to support the prosecution case that he intended to kill Ms Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.
Pistorius has been released on bail. Sentencing will likely happen in the next couple of weeks.
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