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By Citizen Reporter

Journalist


Judge Thokozile Masipa tells Oscar to sit

Judge Thokozile Masipa entered court GD of the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday and addressed murder accused paralympian Oscar Pistorius.


“Mr Pistorius you may remain seated until you’re asked to rise,” she told him as he stood in the dock.

After he sat down Masipa began reading her judgment from a hefty wad of paper propped up on a stand in front of her.

She began with a brief description of his house, at 286 Bushwillow Drive, in the Silver Woods Estate, Silver Lakes, Pretoria.

LIVE VIDEO FEED: Oscar Pistorius Judgment

“To reach the bathroom from the main bedroom one had to go down a passage,” she read.

“In the early hours of February 14, 2013, the accused shot and killed the deceased, Reeva Steenkamp.”

Masipa then read the four charges.

The 27-year-old athlete is accused of murdering Steenkamp, his girlfriend, in his Pretoria townhouse.

He shot her through the locked door of his toilet, apparently thinking she was an intruder about to emerge and attack him. She was hit in the hip, arm, and head.

He also faces three charges of contravening the Firearms Control Act – one of illegal possession of ammunition and two of discharging a firearm in public.

He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013. On September 30, 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.

Sapa

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