Oscar Pistorius trial

[JillJ72]

Starting a new thread as as was pointed out on the other thread, it is not an appropriate place to "talk" and continue to "promote" a really poor excuse for a "joke".

Yesterday's post-mortem evidence was awful; if ever there's a way to get across just how unglamorous guns are, post-mortem evidence is a painfully honest way of doing so.

I listened to the trial live today. My main impression? That Darren Fresco consulted with legal experts to ensure his affidavit did not incriminate him, yet left room for questions that weren't explicitly answered. If he'd paid for that input from legal experts, they didn't sew it up nicely and tightly. I got the impression he was a bit of an unwilling witness really, and had problems remembering some things, yet was very insistent on others. Some good journo feeds on twitter that give different flavours and interpretations.

I'll be honest. I hope this was as OP said, an appalling mistake. But equally so many questions, the constant "whys". And so I am sitting on the fence, listening to argument and counter-argument, and waiting for the judge's final decision.

Never have been in a court of law before, are proceedings usually this long, slow, going round in circles, playing cat and mouse?

I definitely wouldnt lock or close a door if I was just getting up in the middle of the night to do a wee.

Prosecution I think are arguing that he hit the door with the cricket bat first. So they argued, she locked herself in bathroom, he flew into a rage/was already in a rage and attacked door with bat. When that didn't work he shot through door.

Sounds plausible and fits with the 2 sets of bangs heard by the neighbours. But then how did the door get opened after the shooting? Did he use the cricket bat again to open the door? Then wouldn't 3 sets of bangs be heard?

Zing, after the shots were fired the security guard phoned him and asked if anything was wrong. OP answered that there was nothing wrong.

DoctorTwo- the defence team are desputing that. The security guard in his first statement to police, said OP said "I am ok". The guard has now changed it to "everything is ok".

I still find it difficult to understand why he didn't just say " get an ambulance now" but maybe he had called for help etc, knew they were on thier way and didn't wan the security guards there. I think the phone log will be very telling.

Excuse typos!

He could have done the same if he realised he had shot her after thinking she was an intruder though?

the defence team are disputing EVERYTHING - that is their job :)

BeCool

that is what I remember being said on the news, baseball bat then gun.

Doctor

thanks, still don't know what's telling about that. sorry.

Either way saying I am OK or everything is OK is odd.
Trouble is I think Roux is more keen on winning than getting to the truth and can argue his way around anything. The police seem to be bungling bafoons . His ex girl friend and mate have been badly hurt. Reeva was a close friend of Darren's long pre Oscar so aren't impartial and would probibly like to see him get his come upence. Neighbours, not sure what to make of them.
Only real chinks so far seem to be time of Reeva,s last meal and was he on stumps when he broke down door. But why would he lie about that?
Did the PM show if they had sex that night. Could be relevent?

it was Valentines Day and she had apparently turn up at 5pm with gift for him (from memory). It was still a new fresh romance/relationship - you would think sex would be a strong possibility that night.

So if they hadn't it could be significant.This wasn't,t mentioned in the twitter feed thingies.

baseball bat then gun The expert today said it was the other way round.

The security guard Roux had the call records to show the guard was wrong. OP called, but was crying and didn't say anything. The guard called him back and he said 'I'm fine' (OP) or 'everything is fine' (guard) depending on who you believe.

I'm only following on live twitter, so must admit I'm a bit confused about the neighbours and who heard what.

It's documented that the security guard told the police, at the time, that OP said "Im fine".

The guard has only now changed it to "everything is fine".

So, its the same person saying two different things.

So did he say he had his prosthetic legs on or off?

I quite like THIS coverage/summary. In the bottom paragraph of the linked article there is a link to a write up on the best case scenario if he is cleared of premeditated murder and they then go down the mistaken belief it was a burglar route.

OP says he was on stumps when shooting, realised it could be Reeva in bathroom and then put legs on before getting cricket bat to smash door down.

hickory

again from memory his initial statements and ballistic reports were not matching up - something about trajectory and stuff.
but I should probably stop saying things I remember hearing on the news, ages ago.

unless I remembered correctly and he will have been proven to have lied about it. will see.

But didnt he say before that he shot while on his prosthetics?

BeCool

you always say what I meant to say, but somehow better.

I read somewhere that she was in touch with another man on the night but that was ages ago i read that.
If he was on his stumps maybe he had lost his temper and jumped out of bed in a rage, but saying he had his legs on maybe he hoped people would think he was calmer, taking time to put on his legs?
My gut feeling is that he is hiding something.

hickory

more holes than a colander

I really don't think the burglar story is what went down

I think it would be possible to not remember exactly what was said on a night especially once you've been questioned by police/solicitors etc several times. So not sure it's odd that there's a discrepancy between the guard having said that OP said "I'm fine" and "everything's fine." iyswim.

Iirc the neighbours said they had heard screams between the bangs which had initially been discounted by the defense on account of the fact that Reeva was brain dead from the shots. But if the prosecution is correct and the cricket bat was used first, it would be entirely possible that Reeva screamed as OP tried to smash down the door with a cricket bat before getting his gun and firing it through the door and that what the neighbours heard was first the bat being swung at the door, followed by screaming, followed by gunshots.

If i was at home and heard a noise and my dp's side of the bed was empty i would assume it was him.

Before the trial, it was said to be crucial whether he was wearing his prosthetics or not, as the angle of the bullets through the door would prove which height he was at.

But if the prosecution is correct and the cricket bat was used first - The forensic analyst today (for the prosecution) said that the door was shot first and then hit with the cricket bat.

I read on twitter that OP has recently said that he spoke to Reeva before he got out of bed to move the fan, so that's why he assumed she was still in bed. Haven't seen it anywhere else so not sure about how true that is.