South African athlete Oscar Pistorius of Olympics' and Paralympics fame has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of culpable homicide in his country's courts after having killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The runner's then-girlfriend was found dead at his home in Pretoria after having been shot three times by Pistorius, in a move he said to the court had been due to having mistaken her for a burglar, having shot her through a bathroom's closed door.
The runner is free while the judge sentences him on the account, which will come at a later date.
Oscar Pistorius' Olympics feats include several gold medals in Paralympics competitions and a participation in the able-bodied London Summer Olympics, a rarity for a double-amputee athlete.
Nicknamed 'Blade Runner' for the prosthetics on his legs, the runner was said to have heard noises that he mistook for intruders inside his house, which prompted him to grab his weapon and take four shots through the bathroom door. It was only then that the athlete realized it had been his girlfriend of three months who was in the bathroom, instead of an introducer. He said he'd thought his girlfriend was still in bed next to him.
The prosecution, however, put forth the case that Pistorius shot Steenkamp knowingly, after the couple had been involved in a lovers' quarrel; neighbors said they had heard them fight the night before, as well as a woman screaming.
Oscar Pistorius' Olympics fame had his trial become a public ordeal. The court started in his case last March, after the runner was involved in a round of tests to certify his capability to stand trial after he had been diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder. The charges involved premeditated murder, culpable homicide (manslaughter), illegal possession of ammunition and two charges of firing a gun in a public space after an incident at a restaurant.
In South Africa, the trial was televised in a fashion reminding of the O.J. Simpson case in the '90s, gaining much media attention. Oscar Pistorius' Olympics feats had made him a national hero for many in his native country and abroad.
