I will lose murder appeal, says Pistorius' lawyer

Oscar Pistorius could be convicted of murder within weeks if South Africa's supreme court of appeal decides he should have known his actions would kill. Photo / Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympian who shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp - after apparently mistaking her for a burglar - could be convicted of murder within weeks if South Africa's supreme court of appeal decides he should have known his actions would kill.

Mr Pistorius, 28, was convicted of a lesser manslaughter charge and was last month released from prison into house arrest at his uncle's mansion in Pretoria after serving just one year of a five-year sentence.

Judge Thokozile Masipa, sitting at Pretoria high court, ruled the athlete believed Miss Steenkamp was still in bed rather than behind the locked lavatory door when he fired four shots at it in the early hours of 14 Feb 2013. As a result, she found, he could not be guilty of intentionally killing her. But appealing against the judgement and conviction at the supreme court of appeal yesterday, the state argued that regardless of who Pistorious thought he was shooting at, he should have known his actions would have been fatal.

If three of the five judges hearing the case agree with Gerrie Nel, the state prosecutor, they may rule in as soon as two weeks that he be retried or, as is thought more likely, that his conviction be upgraded to one of murder. They could either sentence the athlete themselves or send him back to the high court where he would face a minimum 15 years' jail for murder.

Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux faced tough questioning by the panel during a three-hour hearing in the city of Bloemfontein yesterday (Tuesday) and afterwards was overheard telling Mr Nel in Afrikaans: "That I am going to lose is a fact." Mr Roux's comments were caught by a microphone placed in the court for a live broadcast. Brian Webber, Mr Pistorius's solicitor, said they were taken out of context and meant "nothing".

"We think we have got a very arguable case," he said. "We certainly don't think we are going to lose. Mr Roux was asked some tough questions but that is how the [court] works - it was always going to be an inquisitorial approach." A prosecution source said they had read little into Mr Roux's remarks. "As colleagues we are entitled to talk to each other in confidence," she said. "We all joke around and make comments about winning or losing, it usually means nothing."

The state is, however, confident that the manslaughter conviction will be overturned, she added.

It won a legal victory yesterday when an old precedent was overturned that blocked appeals in cases where judges had convicted a criminal of an alternative charge.