A Son of the Rock

At time of writing I do not know what sentence Oscar Pistorius has received for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. (My personal view is that only custody for a reasonably lengthy time would be sufficient punishment.)

My main bugbear though is the nature of his defence.

As I understand it he pleaded not guilty on the grounds that he thought he was shooting at a burglar.

So his defence against murder is that he was deliberately shooting someone?

How does that work?

Is it a tenet of South African law that you can freely shoot burglars? That notion strikes me as bizarre.