Oscar pistorius

[spiderbabymum]

Heard the news this am

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

I saw that Nigerian article yesterday and it's vile.

Re: Bradley wiggins not being intense. Did you see the interview with his wife? She'd disagree strongly with you. Most driven people are intense it's how they rise to the top of their game.

It's worth having a look back at Reeva and Oscar's twitter feeds, there's not many interactions because it was a reasonably new relationship, but I got a bit if a feel
For how their relationship was.

So how exactly would you like him to show remorse then? Front page interview with OK/Hello magazine perhaps? he doesn't owe you anything. He doesn't owe the public anything. The only people he should apologise to is the family of the girl who is now dead because of his actions. The fact you haven't seen any evidence of remorse means absolutely nothing - you don't know him, you are not a part of his life, all you see is what is shown in court. And what is going on in court is a bail hearing not a stage on which to display remorse in order to satisfy the wims of the general public who happen to disapprove of his conduct in this regard.

Bradly wiggins not agressive? so you didn't witness the press conference where he referred to journalists as c*nts then? or the incident where he almost hit a cameraman who nearly knocked him off his bike? Not agression per se but a reactive outburst none the less, and if your list is to be believed makes him an abuser doesn't it.

As for "previously been in abusive relationship," the message that obviously sends to any decent man is "never get involved with a woman who has previously been in an abusive relationship because you will automatically be branded an abuser."

But do carry on living your life by your list ey.

You don't know him either wannaBe

no, I don't. I do however know someone who does. Someone who absolutely categorically believes that he did not intend to murder his GF.

Most of all, I agree with this from Bluegrass:

'Personally I think if they are unable to establish murder then at the very best he is guilty of a voluntary manslaughter which should carry an equivalent sentence.

Having made the bizarre leap of imagination that person in the bathroom was more likely to be an intruder who had broken into his guarded estate than the woman who was already in the apartment, he chose to fire 4 shots into an enclosed space through a closed door with the reasonable expectation of killing that person, all the while having apparently failed to ascertain who he was shooting at or what their intentions might have been.

I think that shows a level of criminal recklessness which suggests the public would be safer if this trigger happy man were kept off the streets. He clearly cannot be trusted to act in a way that doesn't pose a huge threat to the people around him.'

I just don't see how on earth he can argue self defence when there was no intruder and no threat at all to himself or his girl friend. None whatsoever.

And yes I know SA is different to UK. But there was no threat. He lived in a secure gated community. He had vicious guard dogs in the garden.

At best it was all in his head. It's not self defence. He may be better off going down the temporary insanity route if he was as paranoid and deluded as he says. I wonder if psych hospitals are any better than the prisons?

On today's newsfeed the court heard from a female independent lawyer who asked, as a matter of public interest for op's mental state to be assessed (or similar - im on my phone). Judge told her she needed to petition the High Court.

Ah yes, the curious incident of the dogs in the night-time. (For those of you who know your Conan Doyle )

He doesn't have "vicious guard dogs". He has soppy pets.

And as for remorse, this thread is getting ridiculous now. He's not crying, he is crying., yeah but only for himself, etc, etc

It's a bail hearing. No-one on here knows, nor needs to know, if he has already expressed remorse to the Steenkamp family. But don't let that get in the way of your theories

What a thread.

No doubt someone who knows someone he waved at once from across a room will come on shortly to they know for a fact he didn't do it, cos he looks nice and is good at running.

BeCool
Have you ever visited SA? Although we can all think we know what it's like, it's only when you visit and see the personal security and hear the gunshots first hand, that you REALLY begin to understand the fear that seems to be second nature to many South Africans - certainly living in the J'burg area where we were.

Perhaps all the Miss Marples on here should fly down to SA pdq so they can get on the case with their amazing detective skillz. It'll be wrapped up in an hour.

BeCool - these estates are only secure as their weakest link, they're so vast and staffed by easily bribed, underpaid guards who may or may not choose to risk their own lives...Dogs are often poisoned/shot prior to robberies. People do feel scared/aware/paranoid on these estates too, just slightly less so.

We have:

Dog
Armed response
Panic buttons, alarm, door sensors, beams
Electric fence
Guards at end of road

..we still don't feel safe to walk down street at night, or even sit on balcony when its dark, feel safe in daytime

Ruby, this is a very extreme case of living in SA and probably relates more to joburg than anywhere else in the country. My family live in various cities in SA and only my aunt lives a life which has been described below and she lives in joburg, the rest of my family are security conscious but not to the extreme of the descriptions on this thread.

Bling, am not in Jo'berg, lots of people live like us now in SA.
Its a choice - for various reasons we wanted to come here for a while it has many, many advantages and is not forever for us

I only explained our security to indicate how people live here not to promote it as a lifestyle choice!

I still hope he doesn't get bail today - there should be consequences to the rush of blood trigger happy aspect to this, and the fact he killed a person. I suspect he probably will get bail though the way things have gone in court.

It still looks like domestic violence to me - why would he not talk through the door and make sure she wasn't in there first before firing like a mad man.

And the fact that his coach wants him to get back to training next week is so awful.... A woman is dead an he wants to carry on like normal. I wonder if they realise how serious this actually is?!

This is a bail hearing, not a trial, but surely once the trial starts the evidence will be strong enough to acquit or convict. If the bathroom door was closed (sorry, I don't know if it was or not) there will be bullet holes in it and forensics will show the likelihood of four shots passing through the door as they did and hitting the victim directly (very, very unlikely). If the bathroom door was open and it was dark, he may have fired four shots and got four direct hits before he realised he was no longer under threat/who his victim was, but it seems unlikely. If the door was open and it was light, then he knew who his victim was. Surely we have to have enough faith in justice in any civilised country to think these deductions can be made.

my fb timeline is a bit of an indication of the life in SA for some people, and the justice system:

From first friend:

"the court case is over. It's taken us two years to get to this point. One of the gang members was found guilty and will spend between ten and twenty years in jail. the judge said that although he knew the other four members were guilty he could not prove this beyond all reasonable doubt due to the fact the police messed up the investigation so they have walked free. I feel so disappointed. The police are not being investigated for the way in which they handled the investigation, one of the guns still hasn't been tested etc. And what can we do? nothing..." (this relates to an armed robbery on her paretns' farm in which they were both shot and seriously injured.

Friend two's response:

"I am sorry this was the outcome. Unfortunately I know this too well, no-one has ever been convicted of Barny (her husband) murder and that was six years ago. (he was shot on their farm she is blind and was shot as welll but only injured, he was killed).

Friend three:

"the hardest part is coming to terms with what happened and moving on. It took my brother a long time to come to terms with the attack that happened to them and the fact that no-one was ever convicted, but you have to move on..."

Can you imagine having this conversation over here? it's like an armed robbery comparison isn't it?

And the message seems to be that not only are you likely to become a victim of armed robbery or worse, but chances are nobody will ever actually be convicted. And people wonder why someone might shoot first and ask questions later.

I can't see why he would apologise in court. That doesn't mean he is not remorseful. If he made a public apology in court which he would have been instructed not to do anyway who would it be for?

It would be for him, the press and the public. It wouldn't be for Reeva Steenkamp's family would it? That is something, that if he is telling the truth, will and should be done privately. Not to make front page news.

flippinada if you have a problem with people speculating about the case/ discussing what is/might be happening why come on the thread? Just to prove that you are above all of that? I honestly don't get that - just hide the thread.

Molivan, a quick read of the case would answer a lot of your questions. You're querying some pretty basic stuff there - maybe read a newspaper before posting?