Guilty Oscar Pistorius faces battle to avoid jail term

Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius was yesterday convicted of culpable homicide — the equivalent Irish legal term is manslaughter — escaping the more serious charge of murder for the killing of his girlfriend, and will now battle to avoid going to prison.

The 27-year-old double amputee, who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, stood impassively in the dock, his hands folded in front of him, as Judge Thokozile Masipa delivered her verdict.

Pistorius was also convicted of firing a pistol under the table of a packed Johannesburg restaurant but cleared of two other firearms charges — illegal possession of ammunition and firing a pistol out of the sun-roof of a car.