Oscar Pistorius shoots girlfriend

[anonymous-user]

tight fart said:

I'm suprised they didn't use that in the prosecution to show his temper.

Don't be surprised. It would be a very poor system of criminal justice that allowed evidence such as "The defendant once had a tantrum. He has a fiery temper" to help convict of murder. Imagine that you were on trial for a serious crime and various argy bargy that you had been involved in years previously was dragged up against you. That would be unfair. There are some special rules about what is called "similar fact evidence," but the general principle is that you don't give a dog a bad name and then hang him.

[TTmonkey]

Arrest warrant issued for OP. Don't know why, but maybe he's running...?

[grumbledoak]

TTmonkey said:

Arrest warrant issued for OP. Don't know why, but maybe he's running...?

I would think that tabloid journalists across the English speaking world are praying that he does exactly that.

[BrabusMog]

grumbledoak said:

TTmonkey said:

Arrest warrant issued for OP. Don't know why, but maybe he's running...?

I would think that tabloid journalists across the English speaking world are praying that he does exactly that.

[hornetrider]

Anyone listening?!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/dec/08/...

What a palaver!

Seems like Roux and Nell have come to an agreement where prosecution will allow a low bail amount (10k rand) providing that OP remains under house arrest. So far so normal. The lawyers have done their lawyer horsetrade.

Seems that despite this, #judgeledwaba wants to go against this lengthily negotiated arrangement and put his own stamp on proceedings and is minded to allow OP to leave his house.

So then follows 15 minutes of to-ing and fro-ing of the conditions of that. First it's the district, then that's too big, then it's about how big the radius should be if he's let out, is it 10k, is it 5k, oh hang on the prosecution doesn't want an airport in that radius, where's the airport, blah blah blah.

Jesus titty fking christ.

[MarshPhantom]

AJL308 said:

babatunde said:

guess sometimes justice does prevail.

I still don't understand how the judge came to the manslaughter decision in the first place and she needs to be sanctioned IMO , if you shoot a gun at someone then you mean to kill them

It puzzled me how she arrived at that too. I recall that right near the beginning of this one of the prosecutors made the point that it was completely irrelevant who was behind the door - OP had an intention to shoot whomever it was and that was sufficient to make out a murder case as at that point he was not in danger.

This is the bit that didn't add up. The judge saying he couldn't have known shooting through the bathroom door would have killed her so it wasn't murder. Pistorious's entire defence was based on the fact he thought there was an intruder in the bathroom who he would have been within his rights to kill.

[TTmonkey]

MarshPhantom said:

AJL308 said:

babatunde said:

guess sometimes justice does prevail.

I still don't understand how the judge came to the manslaughter decision in the first place and she needs to be sanctioned IMO , if you shoot a gun at someone then you mean to kill them

It puzzled me how she arrived at that too. I recall that right near the beginning of this one of the prosecutors made the point that it was completely irrelevant who was behind the door - OP had an intention to shoot whomever it was and that was sufficient to make out a murder case as at that point he was not in danger.

This is the bit that didn't add up. The judge saying he couldn't have known shooting through the bathroom door would have killed her so it wasn't murder. Pistorious's entire defence was based on the fact he thought there was an intruder in the bathroom who he would have been within his rights to kill.

Why do you think he had the right to kill someone? Was the person threatening his life? No. Was he fighting for his life in some struggle? no.

You don't have the right to execute someone. not here, not in most countries. OP had a large calibre weapon to defend himself, he says he had no idea who was in the bathroom.

If someone enters your home and you are fighting for your life you can kill them whilst defending yourself. If these are not the circumstances and you decide to kill them 'just in case' then its murder.



He would have been better to say he did it in his sleep whilst having a nightmare.

[cb31]

I obviously don't understand SA law, but how can someone who has been convicted of murder then get bail until April? He can also be up to 20km away from his house in the mornings, doesn't seem reasonable to me. Just baffling.

[Guvernator]

cb31 said:

I obviously don't understand SA law, but how can someone who has been convicted of murder then get bail until April? He can also be up to 20km away from his house in the mornings, doesn't seem reasonable to me. Just baffling.

They obviously don't think he is a flight risk as the bail terms seem rather lenient. To be honest though if I were in his shoes and facing 15 years in an SA prison, I think I'd be sorely tempted to do a runner (pun intended).

[MarshPhantom]

TTmonkey said:

MarshPhantom said:

AJL308 said:

babatunde said:

guess sometimes justice does prevail.

I still don't understand how the judge came to the manslaughter decision in the first place and she needs to be sanctioned IMO , if you shoot a gun at someone then you mean to kill them

It puzzled me how she arrived at that too. I recall that right near the beginning of this one of the prosecutors made the point that it was completely irrelevant who was behind the door - OP had an intention to shoot whomever it was and that was sufficient to make out a murder case as at that point he was not in danger.

This is the bit that didn't add up. The judge saying he couldn't have known shooting through the bathroom door would have killed her so it wasn't murder. Pistorious's entire defence was based on the fact he thought there was an intruder in the bathroom who he would have been within his rights to kill.

Why do you think he had the right to kill someone?

I don't. His defence was that he thought his life was in danger.

[TTmonkey]

MarshPhantom said:

I don't. His defence was that he thought his life was in danger.

Yes his defence was highly flawed. His life was not in direct danger, he had no idea who was behind the door if you believe his story ( I don't by the way ) and he was in control of any situation as he had a big gun. It's murder because he knew someone was in the toilet and he choose to shoot multiple times without real reason.

It would i think be different if there was a history of neighbors being burgled and murderred by intruders but that also wasn't the case.

Personally I think she ran there in the night after a fight and he showed her good and proper what a man he was. I hope he gets life.

[br d]

TTmonkey said:

Personally I think she ran there in the night after a fight and he showed her good and proper what a man he was. I hope he gets life.

Thought that from day one. Most amazing to me was the live in servant was exempted from giving evidence. The one person who would have heard any altercation didn't have to appear while neighbours from 200 yards away were questioned on what they knew.

Irrelevant now hopefully, although I still feel he'll swerve it somehow.

[HTP99]

br d said:

TTmonkey said:

Personally I think she ran there in the night after a fight and he showed her good and proper what a man he was. I hope he gets life.

Thought that from day one. Most amazing to me was the live in servant was exempted from giving evidence. The one person who would have heard any altercation didn't have to appear while neighbours from 200 yards away were questioned on what they knew.

Irrelevant now hopefully, although I still feel he'll swerve it somehow.

I think most people thought he knew she was in there; ran away from him when he started to really go off on one, I seem to remember reading that she had discussed with friends and family that she planned to leave him and also in the house were packed bags of all her stuff.

[BlackLabel]

Guvernator said:

cb31 said:

I obviously don't understand SA law, but how can someone who has been convicted of murder then get bail until April? He can also be up to 20km away from his house in the mornings, doesn't seem reasonable to me. Just baffling.

They obviously don't think he is a flight risk as the bail terms seem rather lenient. To be honest though if I were in his shoes and facing 15 years in an SA prison, I think I'd be sorely tempted to do a runner (pun intended).

I think he'll be more of a suicide risk than a flight risk tbh. The world is a tiny place these days - there are not many places people can hide without being promptly extradited back to where they've run from. It's not as if he can blend in somewhere. - he's famous and legless, he'd stick out like a sore thumb.

[MrBarry123]

BlackLabel said:

I think he'll be more of a suicide risk than a flight risk tbh. The world is a tiny place these days - there are not many places people can hide without being promptly extradited back to where they've run from. It's not as if he can blend in somewhere. - he's famous and legless, he'd stick out like a sore thumb.

Agreed - I wouldn't be surprised if he commits suicide should his appeal fail.

[hornetrider]

MrBarry123 said:

Agreed - I wouldn't be surprised if he commits suicide should his appeal fail.

No chance, he's far too narcissistic to top himself. This suicide talk is lip service to weaseling his way into some sympathy/leniency.

[Zod]

According to one of his friends:

[quote=Pistorius]I don’t want to go back to jail. It’s a terrible place, so disgusting you can’t imagine.[/url]

I'm sure it's not quite as bad as being stuck, terrified for your life, in a toilet, having been beaten around the head with a cricket bat, with an angry man with a gun outside shouting at you,.

[BlackLabel]

bbc said:

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been denied leave to appeal against his conviction for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The Constitutional Court has made the ruling, meaning Pistorius will now be sentenced in April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35720684

[Laurel Green]

BlackLabel said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35720684

[condor]

Good news