The manslaughter conviction of Oscar Pistorius Friday did nothing to ease the seething anger of his victim’s parents who raged at his acquittal on murder charges a day earlier.
Reeva Steenkamp died a “horrible, painful, terrible” death, her mother, June, said, ripping into the judge for seemingly buying the South African sprinter’s argument that he thought a burglar had hidden in his master bathroom. “He shot through the door, and I can’t believe that they believe it was an accident.”
It doesn’t matter that the double-amputee athlete now faces the prospect of up to 15 years in prison, she told she told NBC News.
“I don’t care what happens to Oscar,” she said. “It’s not going to change anything because my daughter is never coming back. He’s still living and breathing and she’s gone… forever.”
Pistorius, who repeatedly retched and cried throughout a trial that lasted six-and-a-half months, was strangely stone-faced when Judge Thokozile Masipa announced her verdict in the bench trial.
He did not cry.
Masipa said prosecutors failed to prove Pistorius was guilty of premeditated murder — they had argued the sprinter was a jealous lover who killed the 29-year-old bikini model in cold blood on Valentine’s Day 2013. But the judge said the prosecution did establish Pistorius was “negligent” when he fired his 9-mm. pistol four times through the closed bathroom door.
“A reasonable person, therefore, in the position of the accused with similar disability would have foreseen the possibility that whoever was behind the door might be killed by the shots,” the judge said.
Masipa found him guilty of culpable homicide, which is akin to the U.S. crime of manslaughter. According to South African law, to be convicted of murder with legal intent, one who fires a gun at another must have known the shots would be deadly.
Pistorius was silent as he fled the Pretoria courtroom. His uncle said he was grateful the judge did not convict his nephew of the more serious charge, which could have put him away for 25 years to life.
“The verdict is a big burden off our shoulders and Oscar’s,” Arnold Pistorius said. “There’s no victors in this. It won’t bring Reeva back, but our hearts go out to her family and friends.”
It was a stunning fall from grace for Pistorius, a 27-year-old who became a national hero when he competed at the London Olympics. Dubbed the “Blade Runner” because of the scythe-like prosthetics he used to compete, Pistorius was also a hero to physically challenged athletes around the world.
Pistorius got a glimpse of what could be a grim future after he was marched off to a holding cell following his conviction. For an hour, the fallen Olympian stewed there before Masipa agreed to extend his bail and ordered him to return to court Oct. 13 for sentencing.
Masipa has wide discretion in sentencing: She could send Pistorius to prison, sentence him to house arrest, or even free him.
Pistorius has no prior criminal history. But Masipa has a history of imposing long sentences on men who kill their lovers. At the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Gerrie Nel is expected to put June Steenkamp and her husband Barry on the stand to demand the max.
If Pistorius does go to jail, the most likely destination will be the notorious Pretoria Central Prison. It’s a scary place — overcrowded and rife with inmate-on-inmate rapes and stabbings. Pistorius will be assigned to a specially modified cell, sources said. Other than that, he will get no special treatment.
Under South African law, Nel can appeal that verdict but is not likely to do so until after Pistorius is sentenced.
Masipa also found the track star guilty of firing a pistol in a packed Johannesburg restaurant — one of three firearms charges he faced. That incident was not related to the Steenkamp shooting.
— With Jason Molinet and Sean Keane
