BLOEMFONTEIN, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) convicted Oscar Pistorius of murder on Thursday, overturning his earlier conviction of homicide for shooting dead his girlfriend.
The Paralympic sprinter was charged for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home in Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius insisted in trial that he mistook her as an intruder and his life was in danger when he fired at the door of the bathroom. He was sentenced to five years and released after serving one year in prison.
The state appealed against the culpable homicide conviction against Pistorius, arguing that he should have been convicted for murder. The SCA started to retry the case last month.
He did not know whether that person in bathroom constituted any threat, so it was inconceivable for him to shoot at the person with a heavy-duty firearm, said judge Eric Leach.