Five suspects appear in court for randomly firing gunshots near hostel in KwaMashu
South African Paralympian athlete Oscar Pistorius leaves the the High Court in Pretoria on September 12, 2014. South Africa’s state prosecutors said they were “disappointed” by Oscar Pistorius’s acquittal on murder charges, but will wait before deciding whether to appeal the decision. AFP PHOTO/MUJAHID SAFODIEN
The athlete arrived in a white Toyota 4×4, wearing a dark suit and a white shirt with a black tie. He was escorted by a group of police wearing bulletproof jackets while a media continent swarmed around him.
After he entered the court room he spoke to his lawyer Brian Webber.
Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide on September 12 for the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.
Judge Thokozile Masipa found him not guilty of murdering Steenkamp, but convicted him of culpable homicide.
Steemkamp’s parents June and Barry Steenkamp, former soccer player Marc Batchelor and her Johannesburg “family” the Myers, arrived in court earlier.
Pistorius previously allegedly threatened to break Batchelor’s legs, and Batchelor made threats in return. This was after Pistorius found out his girlfriend at the time had been allegedly cheating on him with Batchelor’s friend, coal mining millionaire and TV producer Quinton van der Burgh.
Pistorius’s friend and business Kenny Kunene was also in court. He sat in the last row of the public gallery, wearing sunglasses and a white t-shirt with the words “the uncomfortable truth” on the front.
Earlier security guards wheeled out a bag scanner and a walk-through metal detector to the entrance of the court GD. This was the first time the devices were placed at the court room.
Pistorius shot Steenkamp through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home, apparently thinking she was an intruder about to emerge and attack him.
She was hit in the hip, arm, and head.
Masipa said that there was no basis for the court to make the inference that Pistorius wanted to kill Steenkamp.
She said evidence showed that Pistorius acted negligently when he fired into the toilet door knowing there was someone behind it.
With regard to firearms-related charges, Masipa found Pistorius guilty of firing a Glock pistol belonging to his friend Darren Fresco under a table at Tasha’s restaurant in Johannesburg in January 2013.
However, she found him not guilty of shooting through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with Fresco and ex-girlfriend Samantha Taylor in Modderfontein on September 30, 2012.
It was not known who the State and defence would call as witnesses on Monday.
– Sapa
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