Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide on Friday, escaping the more serious charge of murder for the killing of his girlfriend, and will now battle to avoid going to prison.
Oscar Pistorius was cleared on Thursday of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp but the Olympic and Paralympic track star faces a troubled night after the South African judge adjourned for the day before ruling on a charge of culpable homicide.
Eighteen months ago, when he granted Oscar Pistorius bail after the killing of his girlfriend, South African magistrate Desmond Nair noted a number of "improbabilities" in the Olympic and Paralympic star's account of the shooting.
The prosecution and the defense are scheduled to give their closing arguments to the Pretoria high court on August 7, according to Sports World News. After hearing the arguments, Judge Thokozile Masipa will then rule either in favor or against the defendant. If Pistorius is found guilty of murdering his girlfriend, the Paralympian would be sent to prison for life.
Paralympian Oscar Pistorius arrived at the Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in South Africa for his first of 30 days of mental health evaluation as ordered by Judge Thokozile Masipa for his murder trial, Yahoo! Sports reported.
The presiding judge at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial agreed and approved prosecutor Gerrie Nel's suggestion to subject the accused on a mental health evaluation for 30 days at a facility, Bloomberg said.
The defense team of Oscar Pistorius has presented two more witnesses who claimed in court that they saw the athlete in obvious distraught about his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp as he brought her down from his house following the fatal shooting on Valentine's Day last year, Bloomberg reported.
After three gruelling days of cross examination of the defense's expert witness, the murder trial of the man known as "Blade Runner" would resume on May 5.
Boxer Kevin Lerena, who was presented by prosecutors as one of the witnesses against Oscar Pistorius in his televised murder trial, said that the athlete asked a friend to take the blame of a shooting incident at a restaurant that happened less than a month before the fatal shooting of Reeva Steenkamp, Chron said in a report.
Oscar Pistorius' neighbor, University of Pretoria economics professor Michele Burger, was the first witness heard by the court to testify regarding the events leading to the fatal shooting of model Reeva Steenkamp, USA Today said.
Judge Dunstan Mlambo of the South African High Court said on Wednesday that the court's decision to whether it will approve the live telecast of the murder trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius will be moved to Tuesday next week.
On the day of the anniversary where he was indicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, South African Paralympian gold medalist Oscar Pistorius expressed his remorse and pain to Steenkamp's family and friends on his website.
Paralympian Oscar Pistorius who is charged with the murder his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February, has just won an appeal over his bail restrictions. The could could potentially enable him to compete in the next World Athletics Championships, as well as events around the world, but reports the athletic commission may be dissuading those countries from allowing him to compete in them.
Oscar Pistorius' lawyers have filed an appeal in a South African court against bail restrictions imposed on the Para Olympian, who is charged with murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, according to papers released by the Pistorius family on Monday.
A South African court granted Oscar Pistorius bail on Friday, after his defense lawyers argued he was too famous to pose a flight risk. The court set bail was at 1 million rand, or $113,000.
Illegal steroids were reportedly found in the South African home where so-called "Bladerunner" Oscar Pistorius allegedly gunned down his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp last week. Pistorius willl now be tested for the banned drug, which may have played a factor in him committing the crime.
Facing a criminal charge of premeditated murder of his girlfriend, Paraolympian Oscar Pistorius wept in court on Friday. He could face a potential life in prison sentence. Pistorius' family and London-based management, however, issued a statement disputing the premeditated murder charge for killing Reeva Steenkamp.
