Paralympian Oscar Pistorius has been convicted of murder.
The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that Oscar Pistorius, was guilty of murder in the 2013 killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, overturning Judge Thokozile Masipa’s culpable homicide conviction.
Mr. Pistorius has already served about a year in prison and is now under house arrest for the previous conviction; a murder conviction carries a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The appeals court sided with state prosecutors on central points, saying that the manslaughter conviction, technically called culpable homicide, had been based on a misinterpretation of laws and an erroneous dismissal of circumstantial evidence.
The court said that Mr. Pistorius, who has said repeatedly that he accidentally killed his girlfriend when he believed his home had been broken into, should have foreseen that his actions would cause the death of a person.
Pistorius who has been under house arrest since October, is expected to remain at home pending a new sentence.