Oscar Pistorius Found GUILTY Of Manslaughter Over The Valentine's Day Shooting Of His Lover Reeva Steenkamp

Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of manslaughter over the Valentine's Day shooting of his girlfriend. Earlier, he was convicted of firing a gun in a crowded restaurant but cleared of a second firearms charge in which he was accused of firing a gun through a car sunroof.

At he arrived at court, the Paralympian was surrounded by bodyguards as he pushed his way through the throng of media to get inside the Pretoria High Court. The double-amputee sobbed yesterday as he was dramatically cleared of two murder charges over the Valentine's Day shooting at his home in Pretoria last year.

But judge Thokozile Masipa had hinted the 27-year-old may be convicted of a lesser charge of culpable homicide after describing his actions as 'negligent' on the night she died. The 27-year-old athlete broke down as judge Masipa said there was not enough evidence to support prosecution claims Pistorius intended to kill the law graduate-turned-model last year.

However, she had appeared to indicate he will be convicted of culpable homicide when he returns to court today, describing Pistorius as being 'negligent' in killing 29-year-old Miss Steenkamp. Culpable homicide - the South African equivalent of manslaughter - carries up to 15 years in prison but has no minimum sentence and could see him given a suspended term.

She told the court in Pretoria, which included members of both the defendant's and the victim's families, that Pistorius acted 'hastily' with 'too much force' when he fired four bullets through his toilet door in the early hours of February 14 2013.

Pistorius was also described by the judge as a 'very poor witness' who 'lost his composure' during cross-examination.

Yesterday, legal experts said the state could question the decision not to convict on the lesser murder charge that requires a different concept of intention - known as 'dolus eventualis' - which holds you responsible for the foreseeable consequences of your actions.

Judge Masipa said: '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.'

But Stephen Tuson, a law professor at Johannesburg's University of Witwatersrand, said the state would arguably be able to appeal on dolus eventualis (which is Latin for 'indirect intent').

'How can you shoot four bullets through a door and not foresee their death?', he told Bloomberg News. Other South African leading legal experts also did not hold back on criticising the judge for leniency. I’m shocked,’ criminal lawyer Martin Hood said. ‘I think she’s going to get quite a lot of criticism from the judiciary and the legal system. 

This could really open the door to systematic abuse of our legal system by people who shoot their partners and claim self-defence. If someone can shoot in an irresponsible manner, and even in a negligent manner and not be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, then it means that we are not able to use the law as a tool to address violent crime in this country.