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State proved case in Tasha’s restaurant shooting
The State proved its case that Oscar Pistorius was negligent in handling a firearm in a crowded restaurant, Judge Thokozile Masipa said in the High Court in Pretoria on Friday.
Paralympian Oscar Pistorius arrives at the High Court in Pretoria on Friday, 12 September 2014 where judgment in his trial will continue. Pistorius has been acquitted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.”The accused therefore cannot be found guilty of murder dolus eventualis [legal intent]… that however is not the end of the matter as culpable homicide is a competent verdict,” said Judge Thokozile Masipa on Thursday.The State has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder. Picture: Alon Skuy/Times Media Group/Pool
She accepted the evidence by Pistorius’s friend Darren Fresco and by professional boxer Kevin Lerena, who were with Pistorius at Tasha’s restaurant in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, in January 2013.
“The accused admitted that he took the firearm from Fresco as he wanted so see it. He wanted to buy a similar firearm,” Masipa read from her judgment, summarising the evidence.
“What is relevant is that the accused asked for a gun in a restaurant full of patrons,” she read.
As Pistorius took the gun, a shot went into the floor, grazing Lerena’s toe.
“The State has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused contravened [a] section… of the act,” she said, referring to the Firearms Control Act.
Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria townhouse on Valentine’s Day last year. 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.
LIVE VIDEO FEED: Oscar Pistorius Judgment
The paralympian also faces three charges of contravening the Firearms Control Act – one of illegal possession of ammunition and two of discharging a firearm in public. According to count three on the charge sheet he allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at Tasha’s. On count two, 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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