PH
JOHANNESBURG—South Africa’s Supreme Court on Thursday found Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder, overturning the double-amputee track star’s earlier conviction of manslaughter for shooting his girlfriend to death through a locked bathroom door.
Judge Lorimer Eric Leach said Mr. Pistorius was responsible for the “Shakespearean” tragedy he unleashed by firing four shots from a high-caliber pistol on Valentine’s Day in 2013, whether he was attacking his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp or the intruder he says he thought had entered his home.
“I have no doubt that in firing the fatal shots the accused must have foreseen that whoever was behind the toilet door might die,” Mr. Leach said at the court’s chambers in Bloemfontein, reading from the decision by the five-judge panel.
Mr. Pistorius now faces up to 15 years in prison. His sentence will be decided in Pretoria’s High Court by Judge Thokozile Masipa. South African law has no provision for capital punishment.
It was Judge Masipa in September who declared Mr. Pistorius guilty of manslaughter, capping a dramatic six-month trial that riveted South Africa and the world. She ruled that he didn’t intend to kill anyone when he opened fire in his home outside Pretoria early in the morning of Feb. 14, 2013. Ms. Masipa, only the second black woman appointed to South Africa’s High Court, sentenced him to five years in prison.
Ms. Masipa’s verdict shocked and outraged many South Africans who, despite the former Olympian’s tearful testimony, believed he was responsible for the violence he set loose on Ms. Steenkamp.
In announcing the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday, Mr. Leach said Ms. Masipa was wrong to excuse Mr. Pistorius from the full consequences of his actions. But he also praised her handling of a trial whose every moment was scrutinized by South Africans and hundreds of journalists from around the world.
“The fact that the appeal has succeeded is not to be regarded as a slight upon the trial judge who is to be congratulated for the manner in which she conducted the proceedings,” Mr. Leach said.
Following the Supreme Court’s verdict, the Pistorius family released a statement saying it wouldn’t comment on the conviction. The only legal recourse remaining to Mr. Pistorius is an appeal to South Africa’s constitutional court in Johannesburg. But South African lawyers said it wasn’t immediately clear what constitutional issue would be contested, given the court rulings so far.
Mr. Pistorius will remain under house arrest at his uncle’s home in Pretoria until he is sentenced next year.
Many black South Africans—including leaders of the ruling African National Congress—were frustrated that Mr. Pistorius was released to house arrest in October after serving just a year of his five-year sentence for manslaughter.
Although his release from jail to house arrest wasn’t unusual for prisoners in similar circumstances, it stirred deep-seated tensionsover race and privilege that have swirled around the case since Mr. Pistorius disclosed his thinking that fateful Valentine’s Day morning.
By saying he thought he was shooting at an unseen intruder—a characterization widely seen here as code for “poor and black”—Mr. Pistorius appeared to be seeking justification for his actions on racial grounds.
Those tensions were again evident Thursday.
“As a black woman it is disappointing that Judge Masipa’s judgment has been overturned, and the message that sends about her authority,” said Thabi Leoka, an economist and newspaper columnist in Johannesburg.
“But this was a wealthy white boy who got away with murder. Of course I’m glad the court came down in the end on someone who wasn’t your stereotypical face of crime in South Africa.”
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority said the murder conviction would also vindicate the country’s justice system.
“The trial has demonstrated to the whole world how our criminal justice system operates and how our process of appeal shows that we’re a highly advanced constitutional democracy,” said prosecuting authority spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku.
Mr. Pistorius, 29, had both his legs amputated below the knee after being born without fibulas. He became a South African hero and an international celebrity after competing in the Olympics and Paralympics in London in 2012. Fans dubbed him the “blade runner” after the carbon-fiber prostheses he used to compete in events including the 400-meter dash.
He returned to South Africa and expanded his ties to prominent sponsors like Nike Inc. and other prominent sponsors. He also began dating Ms. Steenkamp, a television personality and model who was 29 years old when she was killed.
