Oscar Pistorius may be found guilty of manslaughter; what the judge said

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The judge didn’t find Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder but from what she said this afternoon, it looks like she’s planning to find him guilty of manslaughter. Whether it will carry a prison sentence remains to be seen. Below are some of the things judge Masipa said this afternoon;

*He was negligent
*He could have run to the balcony and screamed. He could have called security.
*He was reckless, acted in haste and used excessive force
*He had other options but chose to use a loaded gun
*He could have run to the balcony and called for help like he did after the shooting
*He could have called for help in less time it took to shoot through the door. 
*He had reasonable time to reflect and think
There was no explanation why Oscar didn’t call security before arming himself and going to the bathroom. Continue…


*His conduct could be explained by looking at his past. But that does not excuse his conduct.
*Growing up in crime-riddled environment with a paranoid mother is just an explaination not excuse
*Many South Africans grew up in crime-riddled environment, they don’t go about killing others
*The test for negligence: weather a reasonable person would have foreseen the reasonable possibility of the consequence.
*Defence said conduct of Oscar was brought about by several factors like lack of burglar bars on windows

The court was adjourned and will resume at 9.30am tomorrow…