Pretoria: South African Judge Thokozile Masipa has cleared Olympic and paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius of all murder charges, saying he did not foresee he could kill anyone the night he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
"Clearly he did not subjectively foresee this as a possibility that he would kill the person behind the door, let alone the deceased as he thought she was in the bedroom," Masipa told a packed court, as tears streamed down Pistorius' face.
Pistorius could still be found guilty of culpable homicide, the equivalent of Britain's manslaughter, if Masipa believes the athlete was negligent in shooting dead Steenkamp.
The judge appeared to be heading for a culpable homicide finding Thursday after ruling out both both premeditated murder and murder verdicts in the shooting death of the double-amputee Olympic athlete’s girlfriend.
Judge Masipa said prosecutors have not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Pistorius, 27, is guilty of premeditated murder.
“Culpable homicide is a competent verdict,” the judge said, but did not deliver any formal verdicts in the shooting death of Pistorius’ 29-year-old girlfriend before adjourning court for the day.
The verdict reading will resume Friday.
Culpable homicide refers to a negligent killing also known as manslaughter. If Pistorius is formally acquitted of murder, he could still be sent to jail for years if it’s found he acted negligently in Steenkamp’s death.
Pistorius has admitted firing the four shots that killed Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.
