Oscar Pistorius Trial Part 7

[Roussette]

here is Part 6. Nearly time for a new one.

I find the court process fascinating. I really wish the DC were older so I could get a few minutes to actually watch live. Has OP been passing notes throughout the trial or is it just this witness he feels compelled to comment on? Is it normal for defendants to pass notes during court sessions? What sorts of things might a note say?

Part of me thinks I'd like to have a job in a court room. Transcribing, that sort of thing. I think I'd quickly get overwhelmed by a skewed perception of how much evil there is in the world though.

I'd be awful at being a court transcriber. My mind would wander and I'd have to ask them to repeat what they said.

I'd probably have that problem too after the first couple of days tbh. Maybe I could do really short trials... I'm pretty sure my aunt used to do some legal secretary type work. Not entirely sure what but I seem to remember she'd spend every evening typing with her headphones in when we visited & we were told not to disturb her & there was some mention of her having to listen to some unpleasant things. I was about 14 at the time & moody about having to spend 2 weeks with my grandmother & aunt & not lounging around at home watching TV all day so I wasn't really that interested in what my aunt was doing!

The legal experts are saying 30 days

He could be seen as an outpatient

I think this witnesses testimony is pointless. She has only just met him! She has no idea whether he has had an anxiety disorder his whole life (if he had, surely they'd call a psychiatrist who knows him?!). What bollocks. It's really dodgy to say he has depression right now too. He's on trial for murdering his girlfriend, of course his mood is low.

Would a three day observation be enough? I would think it would take a lot longer to get a complete picture of an anxiety disorder?

That's another thing, the psychiatrist only met him very recently, is that true?

Yep 2nd and 7th may THIS YEAR

Op is being treated for depression. Is on mediation.

The legal experts both seemed to agree that Roux has opened up a can of worms, possibly unintentionally.

Another point the Psychiatrist said that OP was a danger to society, so indicating for the Prosecution he should be incarcerated???? Also casts doubt on whether OP should ever have been allowed possession of firearms in the first place, all seems to point to that fact he was a ticking time bomb with his gun and was bound to kill someone sooner or later.

I really don't know quite what to make of all this.

I think I saw mentioned somewhere (here?) that the psychiatrist had also liaised with his routine professional support, who has been treating him for depression? But I don't know if any of that pre-dates 13 / 14 February 2013.

I thought they said 30 day observation not 3?

Free initially I thought I heard 10 days during the trial today, then 30 and it seems the SA legal experts are all saying 30 days not 3 so I am not sure.

Nel himself says three days, have triple checked.

Also somebody earlier posted a load if info from a SA treatment and assessment unit that talked about holds of 72 hours. I think the confusion is that the hold can be a maximum of 30 days however I am absolutely sure Nel is asking for a three day as he said it. More then once. If a hold was ordered then it could be extended if it was felt to be clinically necessary for a full assessment after the initial 3 days. This is causing confusion. Go check if you like, the three day is mentioned around the 20 minute mark of session 2. Not sure if that occasion was the first, second or third time that Nel stated it was a 3 day hold he was looking for but he said it, 3 times.
All these media outlets, twitter feeds and in turn experts talking about the case often reference each other which means when an error is made it gets lots in the sea of people quoting each other but failing to go back to the route source. Can you tell this bugs me?

Road I think the media outlets et al just like to confuse us mere mortals and give us something to talk about

On another note of media inaccuracies I was listening to the reports about the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and someone said that the oft quoted "being held in a forest area 3 x the size of Wales" was totally incorrect, the area is nowhere near that size and a few minutes later the correspondent repeated the "3 x the size of Wales" assertion!!

Do you think the judge will grant the assesment?

From ANdrew Harding (BBC)
"From what I have gleaned from numerous sources in court, it is likely that Judge Masipa will not grant the prosecution its request, but we shall know for certain only when she announces her decision. "

Thanks saker

Honestly I doubt Nel wants the bloody hold but he needs any conviction to be water tight as does the judge so it has the seemingly farcical result of making Nel fight like a dog for something that could throw over a year of bloody hard work and weeks and weeks of court time into disarray. He doesn't want the hold, he wants the phycologists evidence either thrown out or weighted as to be behalf able. He just has to go through all the motions to get that and close any appeal loop hole.

Checked the BBC reporting on today, a close look show they are saying 'up to' 30 days of assessment hold. They know Nel said 3 days but they want it to sound as dramatic as possible. I. Hate. The. Press.

weighted as to be as negligible as possible

I am sacking my auto correct!

Thank you for explaining. It does make sense.

Bother. I just wrote a whole post & accidentally closed the page without posting it. To summarise, I had a stir fry for dinner at about 6.30. 4.5 hours later & I'm ravenous. If I'd actually made it to bed by now I'd definitely be getting up for a snack. I do find it strange that he's so insistent that she couldn't possibly have gone downstairs without his knowledge while he was asleep while his defence hinges on him not noticing her popping to the toilet while he was awake. That's one of my biggest issues with his 'version'. When I'm starting to speculate his insistence makes me wonder if perhaps there was an argument because she'd gone downstairs while he was sleeping, he woke up, heard someone downstairs & panicked only to discover it was her. That scenario would have him running on adrenaline already with the loaded gun in his hand & a reason to insist she hadn't been downstairs. Who knows though. There's far too many possibilities &, if he's not already telling the truth, I can't see him coming clean any time soon.

I'm going to go get a snack & go to bed. I'm tired & rambling, apologies!

AGnu - I pondered a bit about this upthread. AFAIK, both of them were very conscious of their weight. It's known that Reeva purposely lost weight to further her career and OP when interviewed would frequently talk about being on a strict diet to keep his weight down.

So, in that sense, it seems likely that they would eat something fairly light, early in the evening.

I am not sure if the State think they ate later then they said, or that Reeva herself ate later. I do wonder if there is any rubbish or leftovers found in the house that would indicate exactly what was eaten.

Also, I believe at least one witness testifed that, at the crime scene, OP was retching but not vomiting, which (if that witness is to be believed) would demonstrate that he had an empty stomach.

Nel is doing exactly what he has to do in closing all the loopholes. Apparently today Nel is going to continue his cross examination of the psychiatrist and push for this assessment. I read somewhere that Judge Masipa is favouring ruling against it (but that's just the press but it was Andrew Harding BBC)

Apparently this could delay the trial for up to a month. Poor RS's family, more waiting for an end to this. Look how long it's taken to get Shiren Dewani to court because of psychiatric assessments, her poor family have been waiting for years.

This was an interesting statement from SA press..
In a statement that may later prove difficult for the defence, Vorster agreed with the prosecution that by arming himself and approaching the danger Pistorius must have foreseen the possibility of shooting.