Oscar Pistorius Remains On Bail; To Face Sentence Hearing in June

Oscar Pistorius will face a fresh sentencing hearing on June 13 to 17 at the Pretoria Supreme Court. The fallen sprint runner is convicted for the culpable homicide murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

On Monday, May 2, Oscar Pistorius was at Pretoria Supreme Court as Judge Aubrey Ledwaba told him that he would face a fresh sentencing hearing from June 13 to 17. Pistorius only spoke to confirm that he understood the judge's decision, Xinhua Net reported.

The 29-year-old South African sprint runner will remain on bail until the new hearing. His lawyer told the court that his tracking device, which he wears on his wrist, had malfunctioned several times, alerting him that he had broken bail conditions while he was in fact at home. Pistorius is currently living at his uncle's home in Pretoria.

According to The Week, Pistorius had repeatedly denied intentionally killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria home during the early hours of February 14, 2013. He insisted throughout his lengthy trial that he had mistaken her for an intruder, shooting 4 times through a locked toilet cubicle door, killing her instantly.

It is expected that Judge Thokozile Masipa will be the judge who will hand down the sentence in June. At the initial trial, Judge Masipa accepted the fallen athletic star's version of events, ruling that there is no evidence that Pistorius had wanted to kill Steenkamp but his actions had been negligent, according to FOX 28.

However, the supreme court found out that Masipa had wrongly applied the legal principle of dolus eventualis. It hinges on whether an accused should have foreseen the outcome of his actions. Pistorius must have foreseen that firing into the door could cause death of whoever was behind it, the judges said. 

Oscar Pistorius was originally handed a sentence of 5 years in prison for the culpable homicide conviction and served just under a year in prison. He was released under house arrest in October 2015, before the state successfully challenged the verdict in the supreme court.

Tags

Oscar Pistorius Trial, Oscar Pistorius, Oscar Pistorius verdict, Reeva Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp murder, Culpable homicide

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