Guilty of Manslaughter

The whole of South Africa – and indeed the world’s social media – has been in uproar over the last thirty-six hours, after it was announced that the Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, who is accused of killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s day last year – had been acquitted of murder. Today the drama of the trial (which began on the 3^rd March) continued, as Pistorius was found guilty of the lesser charge of culpable homicide, and also ‘reckless endangerment with a firearm’. Pistorius faces a maximum of fifteen years in prison, though he is likely to receive only seven to ten.

Throughout the trial, the media coverage has been large-scale, with a large number of celebrated reporters flocking to Pretoria to cover the day-to-day proceedings. It was only yesterday, however, that the entire world seemed to become involved. Twitter feeds have exploded with not only news, but the opinions of the great and good: today even Jeremy Clarkson voiced his opinion, tweeting ‘People of South Africa. Really?’

Sentencing in the trial of Oscar Pistorius will take place from 13^th-16^th October.