Days before judgement is to be handed down on his murder case, Oscar Pistorius reportedly demonstrated his angry side to journalists congregating outside the Pretoria home of his uncle, where the disabled athlete has been staying throughout his trial.
Asked by a Sunday Times reporter how he was coping, Pistorius became enraged, asking the journalist: “How can you ask me that? Do you really have the audacity to ask me how I am doing at this point in my life? What I am going through and feeling … I really cannot deal with this right now.”
It also emerged last week that Pistorius has now sold off most of the properties he owned. His Silver Woods Country Estate home, where girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot, was sold recently for R4.5m (£256,000). Two other houses in Weeping Willow Estates in Equestria, Pretoria, were each sold for about R1m (£57,000). The sale of these properties has fuelled speculation that he is raising the cash for further legal fees in the event of being found guilty.
Closing arguments were wrapped up in the trial that has at times provided six months of gripping courtroom drama that transfixed millions around the world. Presiding Judge Thokozile Masipa then retired with her two assessors to review more than 4 000 pages of evidence before arriving at a decision on the central charge of premeditated murder. The verdict is expected to be delivered on Thursday.
If convicted of premeditated murder, Pistorius faces a mandatory life sentence, meaning he will be behind bars for 25 years before he can be considered for parole. Masipa can also convict Pistorius of murder but without explicit premeditation, a lesser crime that still carries up to 20 years in jail. The sentence can be reduced on presentation of “substantial and compelling” circumstances.
If Masipa is not convinced of Pistorius’s intent to kill, he could still be jailed for culpable homicide based on negligent or reckless discharge of his 9mm pistol into the toilet door. Culpable homicide carries a maximum of 15 years behind bars. Alternatively, Masipa could accept Pistorius’ primary argument of “putative self-defence” – meaning that he fired into the door because he genuinely believed his life to be in danger from a perceived intruder – and acquit him.
In addition to the murder charge, Pistorius is accused of three lesser weapons offences: One count of illegal possession of ammunition and two counts of discharging a firearm in a public place. These charges carry up to five years in prison, although in most instances are punishable by a fine.
