南非"刀鋒戰士"蓄意謀殺女友罪名不成立

PRETORIA, South Africa — The trial in the case of the Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius abruptly adjourned Thursday with one charge of unlawful homicide against him still pending.

南非比勒陀利亞——殘奧會運動員奧斯卡·皮斯托瑞斯(Oscar Pistorius)案子的審理週四突然休庭，對他的一項起訴：非法殺人罪仍懸而未決。

The judge, Thokozile Matilda Masipa, had earlier cleared Mr. Pistorius of the gravest murder charges against him.

法官科齊爾·瑪蒂爾達·馬西珀(Thokozile Matilda Masipa)在休庭前駁回了對皮斯托瑞斯的最嚴重的謀殺指控。

Then, after a lunch break, Judge Masipa added to the courtroom tension when she adjourned the case until Friday morning, saying that Mr. Pistorius “acted too hastily,” “used excessive force” and had been negligent in his conduct. Her decision to suspend the hearings was not explained. “We’ll have to stop here,” she said, “and resume tomorrow morning.”

午餐時間過後，法官馬西珀宣佈休庭至週五上午，增添了法庭上的緊張氣氛，她說，皮斯托瑞斯“行動過於倉促”，“過度使用武力”，他的行爲造成了過失。她沒有解釋自己臨時休庭的決定。她說，“我們需要就此停止。明天上午復庭。”

Earlier, calmly and coolly taking up piece after piece of evidence, dismissing some, discounting others, offering practical interpretations of still more, Judge Masipa said that although Mr. Pistorius made a poor and evasive witness, she found large parts of his story credible. Most significantly, she said it seemed — or at least that the prosecution had been unable to prove otherwise — that when he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, through a bathroom door in February 2013, Mr. Pistorius genuinely believed that intruders had broken into his home and were hiding in the bathroom at the time.

此前，馬西珀法官曾沉着、冷靜地逐一考慮了條條證據，摒棄了一些，認爲另一些不可信，對剩下的一些做出了切實的解釋，她說，儘管皮斯托瑞斯作爲證人的表現不佳，且含糊其辭，但她認爲他的說法大部分可信。她說，最重要的，是有關2013年2月皮斯托瑞斯通過衛生間門射死了他的女友、29歲的瑞瓦·史汀坎普(Reeva Steenkamp)的部分，看來皮斯托瑞斯真實地認爲入侵者闖入了他的家，並且躲藏在衛生間裏，至少檢方未能證明不是那樣。

Sitting in a wooden dock in a dark suit, white shirt and black tie, Mr. Pistorius slumped forward and sobbed as the judge spoke.

皮斯托瑞斯身穿深色西裝和白襯衫，打着黑色領帶，坐在木製的被告席上，他聽法官講話時，身體前傾，還低聲啜泣。

There are no jury trials in South Africa, so it has been left to Judge Masipa, with the help of two aides, to render the verdict on her own. According to normal procedures in the country, the judgment includes a summation of the facts, an analysis of the evidence, and then the announcement of the verdict, charge after charge. The judge is spending the day reading her verdict to the court.

南非沒有陪審團審判制度，所以判決全部由法官馬西珀一個人在兩名助手的幫助下來做。在該國審判的正常程序下，判決的內容包括總結事實、分析證據，然後對指控逐條宣佈判決。法官在花一天的時間在法庭上宣讀她的裁定。

Judge Masipa also dismissed out of hand large portions of the prosecution’s evidence, in particular the testimony of neighbors who said they had heard the sounds of a man and woman arguing in Mr. Pistorius’s house before the shots were fired. And she said that prosecution evidence culled from WhatsApp text messages and meant to demonstrate that Mr. Pistorius and Ms. Steenkamp’s relationship was “on the rocks,” as she put it, could not be considered relevant. Nor, she said, could seemingly contradictory text-message evidence from the defense meant to show that the couple had a loving relationship be helpful in reaching a verdict.

馬西珀法官還不假思索地摒棄了檢控方證據的大部分，特別是那些鄰居們的證詞，他們說在開槍之前，聽到了皮斯托瑞斯住所中一個男人和一個女人在爭吵。她說，檢控方從WhatsApp短信中挑選出來的、旨在證明皮斯托瑞斯與史汀坎普的關係“瀕於破裂”(用她的話來說)的證據，不能被認爲是相關的。她還說，辯護律師提供的看似矛盾的、旨在顯示這對情侶相愛關係的短信證據，對做出裁定也沒有幫助。

“In my view, none of this evidence, from the state or defense, proves anything, she said. “Normal relationships are dynamic and unpredictable sometimes.”

她說，“在我看來，這方面的證據，不論是來自國家檢察官的，還是來自辯護律師的，都不能證明什麼。正常的兩性關係多變，有時難以預料。”

In being acquitted of the two harshest charges against him – premeditated murder and a lesser charge known simply as “murder” – Mr. Pistorius has possibly escaped a lengthy prison sentence. But culpable homicide, which is defined as the negligent killing of another person and is roughly comparable to involuntary manslaughter, can carry a wide range of sentences, at the discretion of the judge, from no jail time to more than 15 years in jail.

由於對他的兩條最嚴重的指控——有預謀的謀殺和只是“謀殺”的較輕罪名不成立，皮斯托瑞斯很有可能避免了長期的監獄服刑。但難辭其咎的殺人罪也可能被判以不同的刑期，從不用坐牢到15年以上徒刑，由法官自行決定，該罪的定義是由於疏忽殺死他人，大致相當於過失殺人罪。

The judge’s findings were delivered in a clinical appraisal of a case that has riveted South Africa, been broadcast around the globe and has been compared to the O.J. Simpson case in the United States. Her judgment seemed a huge setback for the prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, who had called for Mr. Pistorius to be convicted of murder and whose pugnacious courtroom manner earned him the nickname the Pit Bull.

法官用無動於衷的評估方式宣讀了對案子的裁定，該案的審理吸引了南非舉國上下的關注，在世界各地播出，有人還將其比作美國的O·J·辛普森案。她的判決對檢察官格里·內爾(Gerrie Nel)來說似乎是一次重大挫折，他曾呼籲判皮斯托瑞斯犯謀殺罪，他好鬥的法庭表現爲他贏得一個綽號：比特鬥牛犬。

In his version of the shooting, Mr. Pistorius, 27, said he awoke from his bed and heard what sounded like a window opening in the bathroom, making him think that an intruder had entered his home.

皮斯托瑞斯現年27歲，他對射殺的描述是，他從牀上醒來，聽到像是衛生間窗戶打開的聲音，他以爲入侵者進入了他的家。

Then, walking on the stumps of his legs in a darkened passageway, with a handgun thrust out before him, he opened fire on a locked toilet door. Only later, he testified, did he suspect that Ms. Steenkamp was inside. When he broke down the door with a cricket bat, he said, he discovered her bloodstained body.

然後，他用殘肢走到一條黑暗的走道中，手拿槍在身前，他對鎖着的衛生間門開了槍。他作證說，只是過後，他才懷疑史汀坎普在裏面。他說，當他用板球棒砸開衛生間門後，他發現了她血跡斑斑的屍體。

“Before I knew it, I had fired four shots at the door,” Judge Masipa quoted Mr. Pistorius as saying, as she listed the various ways he described the shooting during the trial. At times, he said he shot “in the belief that the intruders were coming out” to attack him. At other moments, he said “he never intended to shoot anyone” and had not fired purposefully at the door, the judge said. Part of Mr. Pistorius’s evidence, she said, was “inconsistent with someone who shot without thinking.”

隨着她列舉出皮斯托瑞斯在審理過程中描述的與射殺有關的各種證詞，馬西珀法官引用他的話說，“在我明白過來之前，我已對着門連開了4槍。”有的時候，他說開槍是因爲“他認爲入侵者要出來”攻擊他。還有的時候，他說“他從來沒有想向任何人開槍”，並不是有目的地對着門開槍，法官說。她說，皮斯托瑞斯證詞的有些部分“與沒想就開了槍的說法不一致。”

Ms. Steenkamp, Judge Masipa added, “was killed under very peculiar circumstances,” but “what is not conjecture is that the accused armed himself with a loaded firearm.”

法官補充說，史汀坎普“在非常特殊的情況下被殺”，而且“被告用上了子彈的槍武裝自己也不是猜想。”

Nonetheless, the judge ruled, the prosecution’s evidence to support a charge of premeditated murder was “purely circumstantial.”

儘管如此，法官裁定，檢控方用來支持有預謀謀殺的證據“完全是間接的”。

“The state clearly has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of premeditated murder,” she said. “There are not enough facts.”

她說，“國家顯然沒有排除合理懷疑來證明被告犯了故意殺人罪，沒有足夠的事實。”