Oscar Pistorius verdict changed to murder

Good news for justice, but I expect this will drag on.
At least he's back in prison rather than his uncle's house.
 
Llamaman said:
Good news for justice, but I expect this will drag on.
At least he's back in prison rather than his uncle's house.
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Not yet he's not :-)
 
back you go you murdering scumbag :-)
 
Llamaman said:
Good news for justice, but I expect this will drag on.
At least he's back in prison rather than his uncle's house.
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viv1969 said:
Not yet he's not :)
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I believe that the South African judicial system is off on their Christmas break and the new sentencing should take place towards the end of Jan early Feb 2016. He stays were he is until then I think. I saw a bit of this on Sky News this morning and the South African bloke explaining it did so in a hurry so I could have picked this up wrong :thinking:
 
This doesn't come as any great surprise. There's not going to be a retrial, Pistorius is being sent back to the High Court to be sentenced for murder. Judge Masipa may, or may not, preside. He'll probably remain at liberty, but under Correctional Supervision and confined to his uncle's house in the meantime. I think the state could apply to rescind his release on the grounds that he's now been convicted of murder and faces a potentially long prison sentence, which could make him a flight risk. I doubt if they will though.

Theoretically, the defence could appeal to the Constitutional Court. It's mandate was originally confined to constitutional matters, but the court interpreted this very broadly and this was extended to give it general jurisdiction a couple of years ago.
 
An arrest warrant has now been issued for Pistorius
 
Hope so.
 
Reports that an arrest warrant was issued seem to have been incorrect. The NPA denied it over the weekend, but it doesn't really matter as this would have been a legal formality anyway. OP will appear in court tomorrow morning, and the judge will set a date for resentencing. This could be a few months away, and he's expected to apply for bail in the meantime. His lawyers might also give an indication of whether they're planning to appeal.
 
From what I can gather, they (his legal team) might have a very tough time proving that his human rights have been contravened.
The judge's statement when the conviction was changed to murder...the reasoning for it... was very clear and concise, I thought.
The only surprise IMO was the original manslaughter conviction.
 
viv1969 said:
From what I can gather, they (his legal team) might have a very tough time proving that his human rights have been contravened.
The judge's statement when the conviction was changed to murder...the reasoning for it... was very clear and concise, I thought.
The only surprise IMO was the original manslaughter conviction.
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I probably would also have been surprised, but fell asleep listening to the trial judge droning on and on. :D
 
Most court proceedings, including murder trials, are quite dull. The evidence and legal arguments can be pretty incomprehensible if you don't understand them. South Africa doesn't have jury trials either, so there's no need to explain any of this to laymen.

I was a little surprised when Gerrie Nel said the state wouldn't oppose bail, and a lot more surprised by the leniency of the bail conditions, considering that Pistorius has now been convicted of murder.

It's anyone's guess whether the Constitutional Court will grant permission for an appeal. Its original mandate was restricted to hearing matters relating to the Constitution, much like the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Appeal remained the apex court for everything else, but political meddling allowed the court to expand its jurisdiction and this was formally extended a couple of years ago.

Some SA lawyers are estimating the cost of an appeal at around ZAR 2.0m, which should make Barry Roux happy, but Pistorius seems to be broke. I suppose he's going to rely on Uncle Arnie.
 
MartynK said:
Some SA lawyers are estimating the cost of an appeal at around ZAR 2.0m, which should make Barry Roux happy, but Pistorius seems to be broke. I suppose he's going to rely on Uncle Arnie.
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Less than 100k GBP....Not the most extortionate legal fees I've ever heard of.
 
10,000 ZAR bail (GBP 450-ish), for murder. Can't be bad.
 
viv1969 said:
Less than 100k GBP....Not the most extortionate legal fees I've ever heard of.
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Less than £100k if you earn GBP, or have UK assets. Most South Africans don't. I agree about the bail, ZAR 10,000 is risible, even by SA standards.
 
It's almost like they want him to jump bail... [/conspiracy nonsense]
 
MartynK said:
Less than £100k if you earn GBP, or have UK assets. Most South Africans don't. I agree about the bail, ZAR 10,000 is risible, even by SA standards.
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Talking to a customer in SA the other week and when converted, the Euromillions lottery jackpot that was up for grabs that week worked out at ZAR 2,856,000,000
Never heard him swear before :lol:
 
viv1969 said:
Talking to a customer in SA the other week and when converted, the Euromillions lottery jackpot that was up for grabs that week worked out at ZAR 2,856,000,000
Never heard him swear before :lol:
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Pah. Last weekend I was in Berlin, and in the history museum they had some 100 Billion Mark banknotes from 1923. Thing is, what they called a billion then is what we'd call a trillion now. So each note had a face value of 100,000,000,000,000 Marks.
 
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