Oscar Pistorius Not Guilty Of Premeditated Murder Of His Girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, But Waits To Hear If He Is Guilty Of Manslaughter

Oscar Pistorius has been sensationally cleared of all murder charges over the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.





As the judge delivered her verdicts, the Paralympian sat sobbing in the dock with tears streaming down his cheeks.




Pistorius had been accused of deliberately shooting the 30-year-old model during a furious row at his
Pretoria home on Valentine's Day last year.




But he had always maintained - often through wails of despair during his six-month trial - that he shot the law graduate in self-defence after mistaking her for an intruder.




In coming to her decision, judge Thokozile Masipa described the 27-year-old as a 'very poor' and 'evasive' witness.



But she said that did not mean the track star was necessarily guilty of murder and pre-meditated murder in a case she said was based entirely on circumstantial evidence.






'The state has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of pre-meditated murder,'
Masipa told the Pretoria High Court.

'There are just not enough facts to support such a finding.'

She then proceeded to absolve Pistorius of the lesser charge of murder without pre-planning.


'Clearly he did not subjectively foresee this as a possibility that he would kill the person behind the door - let alone the deceased - as he thought she was in the bedroom,' she told the packed courtroom.