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COPE slams ‘unwarranted’ attack on Judge Masipa

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The Congress of the People (COPE) says the attacks on Judge Thokozile Masipa is unwarranted and unfair.

This is in response to Masipa’s judgement in the Oscar Pistorius trial.

COPE’s Dennis Bloem says the state’s case was weak and failed the family of Pistorius’ girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius was on trial for Steenkamp’s murder but escaped a murder conviction. Instead he was handed down a lesser conviction of culpable homicide.

Bloem says it was up to the National Prosecuting Authority to prove Pistorius’ guilt.

Meanwhile, the South African Communist Party (SACP) has called for a review of the Oscar Pistorius verdict by Judge Masipa in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last week.

Judge Masipa acquitted the paralympian on a murder charge of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, though she found him guilty of culpable homicide.

Pistorius shot dead his model girlfriend at his Pretoria east home on Valentine’s Day last year.

The SACP is calling upon the South African Law Review Commission to undertake a comprehensive assessment and review of the implications of all prosecutorial decisions and judicial outcomes on matters relating to spousal or partner murders or violence.

The party is also suggesting that the review should at least be conducted on cases that occurred and had been prosecuted over the past 20 years.

It has raised concerns that the outcome of the Pistorius’ case could seriously setback on the country’s struggle to defeat the scourge of violence and abuse against women.

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