Paralympian Pistorius case moves from “culpable homicide” to “murder”

Photo: Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius (Getty Images)

Olympian and Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was convicted of murder in a South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

The athlete was originally charged with culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in prison, after shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013.

He served on year behind bars and left prison last month to serve the rest of his five-year sentence under correctional supervision. He will now be re-sentenced by the original court and looks certain to return to jail in 2016.The conviction of murder carries a minimum of 15 years in South Africa.

The eight time Paralympic medallist, has also managed to compete against able bodied athletes at major athletics championships.

He won the silver medal at the 2007 senior South African National Championship. At the 2011 Daegu World Championship he helped his South African team to a national record time of 2 minutes 59.21 second. The team eventually went on to win the silver medal in the final.

Pistorius ran in 45.39 seconds and qualified for the semi-final, where he was eliminated.

He ran 45.52 to finish second to Botswana Isaac Makwala at the 2012 African Championships in Athletics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics Pistorius became the first amputee runner to compete at an Olympic Games where he advanced to the semi-finals

Pistorius is expected to remain on parole until sentencing, unless a court rules otherwise. His lawyers is seeking to appeal the court ruling.