Wednesday 17 September 2014

Oscar Is A Murderer {Link Up #18}

Oscar Pistorius was found not guilty of murder. Now whether you’re a proud South African or a hill billy who checks in with the internet every now and then, you have probably heard of the Paralympic winner who was on trial for murdering his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Well, if you haven’t heard of any of this before that’s basically the story.




Oscar shot and killed Reeva who he had been dating for less than six months. The story goes something like this, Reeva was staying over at Oscar’s place, in the middle of the night he gets up (she’s awake) he goes to bring the fans in (or something like that) she quietly goes off to the bathroom to pee. He hears a noise, grabs his gun approaches the door, whispering, loudly, for her to call the police but never checking that she’s actually ok. He approaches the bathroom door shouting at them to “Get the F*&$ out” (never mentioning that he’s going to shoot) and then when he doesn’t hear a response, he shoots four times. Some time passes and he realises Reeva could have been the one in the bathroom and then he goes and puts his legs on and proceeds to try breaking down the door by all means necessary, including but not limited to the use of his cricket bat. He eventually breaks the door down and find it was in fact Reeva who he had shot.

He calls for help, people arrive, he’s arrested, he’s crying (which becomes a regular thing) he says he thought she was a burglar the State says he intended to murder her.

That’s the facts folks, well slightly hairy facts but for the main part that is what happened.

So my confession today, because it is Wednesday and I am linking up with Kat and Ian, is that Judge Masipa got it wrong. While I respect her, she gave a full explanation as to what dolus eventualis is (if A intends to kill B but kills C instead) he is still guilty of intending to kill. Oscar clearly intended to kill the “intruder” behind the door if we believe he didn’t actually want to kill his girlfriend.  She admitted in her judgment that Oscar was a bad witness, he lies and yet she trusted his version.

The State’s job was to prove that Oscar intended to kill. While they may have not had enough evidence at their disposal to prove Reeva was the intended kill, despite a number of inconsistencies in Oscar’s evidence, they did prove he intended to kill.

However, Judge Masipa did find him guilty of culpable homicide (manslaughter) which is the negligent killing of a human being. He will be sentenced in October.

I could write pages and pages about my opinion of the judgment but I won’t because everyone has an opinion and this way, when I catch up with my lawyer friends they won’t know my full on opinion. 


Did you know anything about this trial? Do you think he is guilty of murder?

Vodka and Soda


15 comments:

Jenn said...

I personally thought he was guilty...I felt like there was too much "coincidence" that had to happen in order for him to shoot her "by accident". I also think that his history of anger and her writing that she was afraid of him should have been taken more into consideration.

Teh Megan said...

I didn't know anything about this actually, because I live in a bubble and refuse to read the news becuase it depresses me and my current inability to find a job is already depressing me enough. Thanks for you dedication to helping me keep up with my current events!!! ;)

Elle Sees said...

i'm glad he was found guilty of something--just wish it would have been the fullest sentence of time he could get. totally guilty in my book.

Kathy@MoreCoffeeLessTalky said...

i did hear about this and glad that he was found guilty of something. wasn't he also abusive? or maybe that was the media trying to twist the facts.

thanks for linking up!

-kathy
Vodka and Soda

Kay R. said...

I have followed this case from the beginning and was ad tweeting about the verdict on my (poersonal) twitter. Dammit she got it wrong. Shoot 4 times? He intended to kill or at the very least cause grievous bodily harm which where im from is enough for murder.

Im glad he was found guilty of something but simply not enough! Ugh
And to think I thought he was the best thing ever during the olympics ...

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Either way, he should be found guilty of something. His intention was to kill. Shot 4 times? While in a bathroom?? I seriously don't get it. Something ain't right... something isn't adding up.

I haven't heard of this story, like Teh Megan says... the news depresses me. But I will more than likely be sucked down into that black hole because I need to catch up!

P!nky said...

Totally thought he was guilty and wish he was tried by jury, not a judge. It's sad and shame and gosh he needs to stop crying!

Brianne said...

He should've been found guilty. He was intending to kill someone & I'm sorry...it's the bathroom, with a shut door, who doesn't first assume, or at the very least check, to make sure it's not your gf before opening fire...

Tracie Everyday said...

I did read about it, but didn't follow it closely. There has been so much going on in the world, it is almost hard to keep up!

Kasey At The Bat said...

what I was most confused by was why the girlfriend didn't shout that it was her in the bathroom? or why he didn't assume it was her in the first place? I didn't follow the trial closely though.

Jackie @ Our Nashville Life said...

They gave daily updates of this case on the news here in America. Honestly, I don't know if he was guilty or not of murder. I think it's good that he was convicted of something because he obviously killed someone. The news made it sound like the area he lived in was high crime and there were break-ins and murders all the time? At the same time though, I don't think you should be shooting someone unless you're really sure about who you're shooting.

A Very Sweet Blog said...

He's so guilty! They said, the judge is tough judge. Well what happened with this case? It just goes to show money can get you through. I feel sorry for the girl's parents and family. So sad.
http://www.averysweetblog.com/

Coffee and Cosmos said...

I couldn't beleive that they didn't find him guilty, that's just ridiculous.

SMD @ lifeaccordingtosteph said...

I personally thought he was guilty and that he knew it was her.

Vanessa said...

Such a great post. ;-)
Lovely greets Vanessa