Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Oscar pistorius

999 replies

spiderbabymum · 14/02/2013 07:11

Heard the news this am

I'm just Devastated for him and his family and partners family

OP posts:
OhToBeCleo · 19/02/2013 20:40

I think something that is hard for most to understand (and which makes his story slightly feasible) is the level of fear and paranoia that people live with in SA. Couple that with waking in the middle of the night (possible dazed and sleepy) and reacting on instinct and without logical thought.....

It's tragic!

DreamsTurnToGoldDust · 19/02/2013 20:55

How many intruders are shot each year in SA, is it that many?

onlymeee · 19/02/2013 21:00

Maryz no one was blaming her for not getting away. I said the loo would be an instinctive refuge, and Hazelnut agreed on reflection.

OhToBeCleo · 19/02/2013 21:09

That's assuming the loo was a refuge at all. The defense assumption would be that she wasn't 'running away from him' - she went for a wee (and maybe just locked the door out of habit in a sleepy state - I do that even when the house is empty sometimes). He woke and hearing a noise he went into instinctive/protective mode and shot at the closed door (without realising that it was her in there until it was too late).

The other thing to point out is that people don't react logically when in a state of fear. If the death threat claim is true then his state of paranoia may have been extreme, causing him to react first and ask questions later.

Maryz · 19/02/2013 21:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

runningforme · 19/02/2013 21:24

I don't believe him for one second. He got his gun from the bed, then 'screamed' at Reeva to call the police whilst he went to shoot at the bathroom door - all this with limited mobility on his stumps, yet not a moment to notice that she was neither in the bed, nor had she responded to his screams to call for help. Also, why would a burglar enter through the bathroom window, but then go into the toilet, instead of out into the bedroom? And if a burglar by chance did do that, it would make sense that said burglar was unarmed and potentially scared themselves. So shooting to kill would definitely look premeditated as described by the prosecution.....

I agree it's all very tragic. But mostly for Reeva and her family

onlymeee · 19/02/2013 21:29

I wasn't actually arguing that she was running away.

Pity it's so hard to follow conversations in this forum. I'm used to forums where you can quote the post you are responding to so that the dialogue stays connected. Here, everything gets all mixed up together.

flippinada · 19/02/2013 21:31

Even if you believe his "woke up in the middle of the night and panicked" defence, it's not good is it?

He deliberately shot at someone who was trapped in a tiny room with no way out.

mcmooncup · 19/02/2013 21:32

His story sounds vaguely plausible. But then it would, there is no-one else to actually offer opposing possibilities - it is his word only...... at the moment. I am surprised her body was released so quickly too, but then what do I know....it just seemed terribly quick, even if there is something vaguely suss here, the coroner takes their time. Although I do live in the Harold Shipman vicinity.

I was really interested in his dad's initial response to it all. He was apparently called to the scene by his son, and said some very strange things early on. "He is fine." This thing about acting "on instinct" if you are a sportsman . Very aggressive and non-remorseful.

OhToBeCleo · 19/02/2013 21:33

runningforme it's all very logical when you put it like that. But cast your mind to a time that you've woken in the dead of night having heard something. You disorientated and feel fear and confusion (was it a dream?). Now times that fear by 100 (because this is SA where violent crime is rife) and you have no legs to run for help and you've had death threats....

I'm just saying....

None of us knows how we would react in extreme circumstances.

Unfortunately the mentality in some situations in SA is 'shoot first or risk being shot'.

DreamsTurnToGoldDust · 19/02/2013 21:38

yy Maryz, but with that one the intruder was holding a screwdriver (a weapon) and the homeowner opened the door and was faced with him. I`m just uneasy if it is a case of that you may think there is an intruder behind a door and you shoot more than once, I think there is a difference, lordy it could be anyone and people would surely be shooting all over the place.

flippinada · 19/02/2013 21:40

The sort of person who would invade somebodies home is surely not likely to run and hide in a toilet, are they?

Especially considering they're likely to be highly aggressive and armed themselves.

DreamsTurnToGoldDust · 19/02/2013 21:41

Ohto, are you SA living there at the moment? It sounds like a living hell, what is being done about it? Are people really that frightened to go to sleep? Sad

flippinada · 19/02/2013 21:42

I'm thinking specifically of SA here a many posters have explained it's much more serious in SA (for want of a better word).

flippinada · 19/02/2013 21:42

I mean the home invasion scenario...sorry, bit tired so not entirely making sense.

mcmooncup · 19/02/2013 21:43

Shooting indiscriminately at an unidentified person is generally a really bad idea and very unlikely

MechanicalTheatre · 19/02/2013 21:45

It's all very odd. I don't know what to believe.

Poor woman.

DreamsTurnToGoldDust · 19/02/2013 21:45

Sorry, not cross questioning you Ohto (promise Grin) but if thats the case are there actually cases of partners shooting the other for going to the toilet in the middle of the night? I dont mean that facetiously

BeCool · 19/02/2013 21:47

"I woke up to close the sliding door and heard a noise in the bathroom"

Its this stmt from his affidavit that doesn't make sense to me. Who wakes up in the middle of the night to do something? Yes you might wake up because you are thirsty or cold or something, but waking up in the middle of the night specifically to do something? It's weird. It would make sense to say "I woke up and realised the balcony door was open and went to close it", but "I woke up TO CLOSE the sliding door" at 3am is plain strange.

Also its at this point he heard a noise in the bathroom. If I go to sleep in a bed with someone I know if they aren't there when I wake up. Even when we stay somewhere that has a humumgous bed I knew if P wasn't there when I woke at any point.

It reads that when he woke up he heard the noise in the bathroom - surely first instinct is to reach out to feel (if you can't see or don't know) if your partner is there.

It just doesn't sit well in such a carefully thought out statement.

also the following is majorly flawed:
"I walked back to the bed and realised Reeva was not in bed. Its then it dawned on me it could be her in there.
I rushed back into the bedroom and opened the sliding door onto the balcony and screamed for help."

If he was at the bed, when he realised Reeva wasn't there (having previously said it was pitch black therefore he didn't notice she wasn't in the bed either when he woke up OR returned from closing the door, how is his next action to rush back into the bedroom? Either it's been poorly edited, he is being very poorly advised re the statement, or he's made a big fuck up in his story/coverup.

The gun was supposedly kept under the bed so he would have gone back there to get it - so that's potentially three opportunities (on waking/coming in from closing door/getting gun) to look/feel if she was in the bed he didn't take???

It also looks very much like the balcony door was in the bedroom. So when he woke to close the door, Reeva got up silently (still in the same room as him & balcony door) to use the loo, made her way in the "pitch dark" without turning any lights on through the bedroom and 7m down the hall, closed and locked the door again without him hearing/seeing anything (if she had turned the light on he would have seen that she wasn't in the bed, or seen the hall light), he didn't notice her or hear her doing this, he still thought she was in the bed and shot the 'intruder' in the bathroom?

Either she was in the bathroom when he woke up to close the door and he didn't notice she wasn't in the bed; OR
She got up to go to the bathroom while he was closing the door, and made her way out of bedroom down hall into loo without turning any light on or calling out to him at all - strange?; OR
Perhaps she was hiding from him in the loo? OR????

Reading his statement it just gets worse and worse for him.

Maryz · 19/02/2013 21:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

runningforme · 19/02/2013 21:49

Ohtobe, I have woken in the night before thinking that I have heard something/someone, and my first reaction was to shake DH awake....admittedly I do not live, nor have even ever visited SA, but still, his account lacks plausibility for me for all the reasons I posted about before.....
Oh, and if he was so security conscious, why was his sliding door open all night? Even with a gate over it, it is hardly secure from a gun being put through the bars. And not being the one locked in the toilet, even without his legs, he had the advantage over any intruder. In such an instance, you could fire a warning shot and call the police, not fire 4 times into a small enclosed space.

I think he's counting on his popularity to get away with this.

BeCool · 19/02/2013 21:49

runningforme he said he screamed for Reeva to call the police AFTER he fired the shots

OhToBeCleo · 19/02/2013 21:50

dreams I'm not there now but grew up there and can confirm that that level of fear is a reality and people go to great lengths to protect themselves. As an earlier poster mentioned, I too have a long list of immediate relatives/friends who have been car-jacked, held at gunpoint, robbed violently and repeatedly. It makes people very cynical. I'm not sure of the up to date stats as I've been away for a few years now but it's not pretty (something like 50 murders a day).

My point is that most people sitting in civilised societies (like the UK) couldn't possibly conceive living like that.

mcmooncup · 19/02/2013 21:51

Yes Becool and this "then it dawned on me that it could be her in there"

Really??

Would your first thought be that?? I wouldn't have thought it would cross your mind.

Wouldn't your first thoughts be that she had legged it to a different room on hearing shots, maybe to call the police?

Maryz · 19/02/2013 21:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.