Oscar Pistorious Pt3

[bunchamunchycrunchycarrots]

Hope no one else has started this.

tiredofwaiting foritalltochange"I'm obsessed with this case and find it's the first thing I think about when I wake up. I came on here expecting to find a chorus of 'hang the bastard': not so."

I too find myself thinking about this case constantly. It keeps me awake at night, I think about it throughout the day. I discuss it with OH, friends etc.

I will come clean and say I was a huge OP fan. I love the Olympics and got totally obsessed with it over the summer. I had some time off during the Paralympics so was able to watch a lot more and got totally drawn into the OP story, ups and downs etc, watched interviews, documentaries, old races etc. By the end of the Paralympics I had taken up running myself, I was so inspired and caught up in the momentum.

I was totally shocked by the thought OP had killed someone- and in total denial. I still am. I feel very guilty for wanting him to be found innocent of premeditated murder- but I find the alternative, that he coldly fired shots at a woman he loved following a row too horrific to contemplate. When I say coldly, I mean I tend to think physical attacks (pushing/shoving) happen during rage but going to retrieve a gun, walk down a corrdor and then fire it from a distance requires more conscious effort.

Someone he loves and cares about has been shot dead. He doesn't sound controlling, more like angry and devastated, which you can hardly blame him for.

To be frank, I'd say that quote sounds like common sense to me....would anyone here be happy taking up with a man who shot his girlfriend dead?

Well everyone views things differently don't they flippinada? That's what I said and this thread certainly shows that!

I am sure there will be plenty of character references both for/against Pistorius from people that know him in court.

Yes, texts and emails could reveal a possible motive.
Ballistics and post mortem more detail on exactly how it happened.

By the way, to any lawyers on here. If OP is found not guilty of premeditated murder, wouldn't he be still found guilty of manslaughter or the equivilent under SA law. A lot of posts seem to suggest that if he gets found not guilty then he'll be aquitted.

I would have thought he would still have to be answerable for what he has admitted to.

claig, how would OP have known the door was locked?

Yes, they certainly do Wiley - there's a lot of strong feeling around this case.

I just keep coming back, in my mind, to the terror and pain RS must have been in the last few minutes of her life.

I agree, he wouldn't have known

"People will stay away from him now. Women too, they will be too afraid, no girl wants her ae shot off."

I winced at that remark, too.

Again nobody knows the truth about any of these relationships, it's all subjective, opinions based on bias.

With respect, there is no subjectivity or bias needed to regard sympathy expressed for OP as misdirected.

Well there obviously is subjectivity, currentbuns, since some people do feel sorry for him. That is the very definition of subjectivity.

Objectively, however, it is RS that is the victim.

Well, yes. That doesn't mean that sympathy for others is totally ruled out.

Which is why I described it as 'misdirected'.

Well, honestly, I'm not going to get into semantics and the nature of objectivity with you, but your statement makes zero sense.

The information about the head injuries and the cricket bat is still on the Daily Mail website. It's a harrowing article and I'm not going to link to it but surely there must be 'some' background to it ?
Am actually angry with myself for reading anything else about this case but it seems that OPs 'people' are really ramping up a PR campaign to absolve him.

That poor girl

"surely there must be some background to it"

fleecy the fact that the cricket bat story has only been covered in the tabloids and no reputable news source has covered it says more to me than a sensationalised story in the Daily Fail Mail.

I hate the wail I really do. God I hope there is no truth to it.

Fleecy, there were lots of errors in the early reporting of the Sandy Hook shooting, so it is likely that there will be errors in the reporting on this too.

It keeps me awake at night, I think about it throughout the day.

Me too, ArmchairDetective.

I was a fan, too. We all were. My daughter did a project about him for a local science fair when she was in Year 6. Ossur were great and sent a Cheetah blade for their presentation. We went to the Paralympics and all I was interested in was seeing him run. We saw the 4x100m relay final that he anchored. I'm not exaggerating, it felt like he was the only person there, you could feel his charisma and superstar-ness from up in the high seats where we were.

I was also moved by the tragedy of him losing his mum so suddenly, his charity work, his courage. And I think he's gorgeously attractive, the kind of guy I'd want one of my daughters to bring home to meet me when they are older :(

The idea that he callously, or even furiously, killed that lovely young woman simply unbearable. It's shattering. I feel I have to believe him and I almost hate myself for it because I detest violence against women. But if it was anyone else I think I'd want to 'hang the bastard' in a heartbeat.

As for the reports of his hot-headedness, etc, there are countless more stories of him being humble and kind, and not issued by PR companies but just accounts from ordinary people who met him.

It just doesn't make sense, any of it.

Fleecy, I've just admitted to my 'bias' but I don't think she was beaten. More rubbish from the Daily Mail that's been picked up elsewhere. Read this, from the guy that identified the body:

www.citypress.co.za/news/i-could-have-saved-reeva/

And why on earth would they not use that at the bail hearing, when they were using any anecdote they could get their hands on, to try to indicate that he had a 'violent nature'? What the prosecution said at the bail hearing didn't convince the judge he was a violent person, so why would they have kept a skull fractured by a cricket bat to themselves?

Oh, and fwiw, if it does come out that he beat her with a cricket bat I would want him thrown to the dogs however much I admire(d) him. But I'd feel heartbroken; the idea is painful.

I found out aged nearly 40 that my mum had twins nine years before I was born and put them up for adoption. I thought I knew everything about her. I find this more shocking than that. It feels absolutely unreal.

And I too am not condoning violence at all- I just want to know the truth. If OP is telling the truth then yes he was extremely reckless (possibly paranoid) and should probably never have had access to guns at al. If he is lying .....well it doesn't bear thinking about. Could he really live with that secret. I'm not sure he could in time.

tiredofwaitingforitalltochange you have just so eloquently put into words how I've been feeling.

Tired- we all like our heroes esp handsome ones who've overcome enormous odds, Op ticks both boxes. But even or especially heroes are flawed..

OP's also a product of SA's violent rather macho culture- post-apartheid paranoia and increased gun-crime, confused identity of white South-Africans- was much discussion about this in SA press at weekend. But far more traumatising for him as a child would have been the triple whammy of a having his mother die so young, a significant disability and a fairly absent father. Apparently these factors "fit" the profile of a future potential abuser- not that someone will go on to abuse but that their childhood trauma makes it statistically more likely.

Anyone from SA know what happens if an accused is found not guilty of premeditated murder with which they are charged? Can the judge find them guilty of a lesser crime even if they have not been charged with it? Can the accused be tried again for the same crime under a different charge?

I think one of the biggest things for me is that unless he is utterly unhinged, he is almost certainly telling the truth otherwise he would never ever have risked making that affidavit when none of the forensics have come out yet.