South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is to return to prison for the shooting death of his girlfriend in 2013, after an appeals court overturned an earlier manslaughter verdict and found him guilty of murder.
The Olympic and Paralympic champion is currently under house arrest after serving one year of his original 5 year prison term for the manslaughter of Reeva Steencamp. She was shot through a toilet door.
Pistorius claimed he thought she was an intruder, however Justice Eric Leach ruled that knowing the identity of the person behind the door was "irrelevant to his guilt".
The judge said the lower court did not correctly apply a rule known as "dolus eventualis", which is when someone should foresee a death might result from their actions.
Justice Eric Leach announced the ruling, which will see Pistorius returned to the lower court for sentencing.
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Justice Eric Leach said the new ruling was not a criticism of the original trial judge, Thokozile Masipa, who he said had done an excellent job.
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