OSCAR PISTORIUS MURDER TRIAL: the blade runner oscar pistorius shoots girlfriend

[Duchess]

Thanks!

I want to have faith in her.

[HairOfTheDog]

I want to have faith in her.

Me too.

[Duchess]

All of these months I had been under the impression that the card & gift discovered in Oscar's home were for Reeva. They weren't. They were from Reeva to Oscar, he hadn't bought anything to give her on Valentines Day. He didn't even take the time to open the card or the gift.

[HairOfTheDog]

All of these months I had been under the impression that the card & gift discovered in Oscar's home were for Reeva. They weren't. They were from Reeva to Oscar, he hadn't bought anything to give her on Valentines Day. He didn't even take the time to open the card or the gift.

Seems reflective of what the prosecutor contends was the nature of the couple's relationship -- it was "all about Oscar" -- doesn't it?



^ The card and gift that Reeva had taken to Pistorius' house for Valentine's Day.

“Roses are red, violets are blue... I think today is a good day to tell you that I love you,” Reeva Steenkamp wrote on a card just hours before Oscar Pistorius blew her away.

The words “Happy Valentine’s Day” were printed on the note and she signed it “Reeves” with a smiley face and three kisses at the bottom.

On the envelope, she wrote “Ozzie” and added two hearts and a squiggle.

Pistorius testified that it was the first time Reeva told him that she loved him. He told the court yesterday that he didn't open the gift -- a picture frame holding four pictures of the couple -- until her 30^th birthday in August.

Ref: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/os...z2z3UG6zTu

[Duchess]

He's such a shit. It must have hurt her heart for him to disregard the effort she had made. He didn't care about her feelings. Most men who profess to care about a woman make certain her feelings are protected from this type of bullshit.

[HairOfTheDog]

Defense Expert Cross-Examination


Dixon on the hot-seat

Today, prosecutor Nel attacked the qualifications and credibility of the defense expert, Dixon.

An expert witness called by the defense team of South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius testified about bullet wounds, blood spatter, bruises, ballistics, sound, light, fibers and a toilet door -- but acknowledged Wednesday that he wasn’t a pathologist or ballistics expert and had no training in analyzing blood spatters.

Forensic geologist Roger Dixon initially was called in by the defense team to look at gunpowder residue. But under cross-examination he said he ended up looking at a wide range of issues in which he had little or no expertise.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel accused him of irresponsibility for doing so.

“You gave evidence, you were strong about it,” said Nel, referring to pathology evidence Dixon offered. “Do you see how irresponsible it is to give evidence on areas you are not expert?”

Police ballistics expert Chris Mangena, pathologist Gert Saayman and another pathologist called by the defense, Jan Botha, all found that Pistorius’ girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was hit by three bullets behind a door. Dixon determined she was hit four times.

Dixon was not present during the autopsy and based his findings on photographs.

He contested the state’s analysis that Steenkamp fell into a sitting position on a magazine rack after the first shot hit her in the hip.

Dixon testified that he had photographed white fibers on the Pistorius toilet door that matched up with Pistorius’ sock, backing the athlete’s story that he kicked the door with his prosthetic leg.

But under cross-examination by Nel, he admitted he only matched the fibers with the sock by looking at the photograph of the athlete wearing white socks. In fact he never held the socks.

“I did not examine the socks. I saw photographs of those socks being worn on the prosthesis at the scene,” he said. “I did not physically touch them.”

Nel planted more doubt over Dixon’s involvement in sound recordings of gunshots and a cricket bat hitting a door that were played in court. The defense contends that neighbors heard not shots but the sounds of Pistorious hitting the toilet door with a bat to break it down after the shooting.

Asked what expertise he applied in making the recordings, Dixon said he wielded the cricket bat while others played different roles. Dixon said he had no idea whether the person who recorded the sound had any expertise in recording gunshots and explosives.

As part of his preparation for the sound recording, “I went on the Internet to listen [to] sound bites that people use when they dub them into movies,” Dixon said.

Although neither a wound ballistician nor a doctor, Dixon identified a bruise on Steenkamp’s buttock as evidence her back scraped against the magazine rack as she fell.

Pathologist Saayman, who has conducted about 15,000 autopsies, testified he opened up the wound and found it was caused by one of the hollow-point bullets fired by Pistorius, which broke up inside Steenkamp’s body after striking her hip.

South Africans were riveted by Nel’s tough cross-examination of Dixon, with the forensic expert’s name trending on Twitter. The most retweeted tweet in South Africa on Wednesday came from standup comedian, Lazola Gola: “Did Dixon find this gig on Gumtree?” -- a reference to a South African online classified advertising site.

Source:
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la...z2zANuBuh6
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Trial is adjourned until May 5^th.

[Duchess]

A South African columnist has publicly accused Oscar of taking acting lessons in preparation for his murder trial. She says she got her info from a reliable source. Of course we all know how reliable a reliable source is.

[HairOfTheDog]

The trial resumes on Monday, 05 May.

The defense will continue its case-in-chief, followed by closing arguments, and then verdict deliberations amongst Judge Masipa and her two appointed assessors.

What do you think so far, from an evidence/testimony standpoint?

Has the prosecution proven its murder charges?

Or, has the defense introduced reasonable doubt supporting Pistorius' contention that he mistakenly shot Reeva thinking she was an intruder?

[Duchess]

I'd like to be able to answer that but I feel terribly biased. I see what I want to see.

[ramseycat]

I don't know how anyone could think he didn't shoot her knowing full well who was in that bathroom. I think it was in the heat of the moment. But he's guilty.

[Midwest Spy]

His version of events are not believable to me.

I hope this judge is rational and finds him guilty of murder.

I also hope there aren't any South African forces behind the scenes who would coerce her into rendering a not guilty verdict.

You know, embarrassment for the country that a national hero has become a murderer.

[crash]

If I take my emotion and personal opinion from it, I think it's knife edge decision. I think Nel did a great job with what he had to work with, but I really think they were hoping for Pistorious to crack in a way bigger fashion than he did.

Realistically, I don't think Nel has been able to do enough (given what he had to work with and the case the defence put forward) to put intent beyond reasonable doubt.

[ramseycat]

You might have a point Crash. Oscar did manage to hold himself together enough to not lose itand admit he shot her on purpose. I thought I read somewhere that he took acting classes. That has to be a big checks to in the negative column.

[HairOfTheDog]

His version of events are not believable to me.

I hope this judge is rational and finds him guilty of murder.

I also hope there aren't any South African forces behind the scenes who would coerce her into rendering a not guilty verdict.

You know, embarrassment for the country that a national hero has become a murderer.

I know what you mean and I've read similar comments at the news sites.

Personally, I cant imagine who in South Africa would actually be "embarrassed" if Pistorius is guilty and convicted, and who would rather see a man that the majority of the country reportedly thinks did it walking or hopping around free. If he is acquitted, I think Pistorius will be in an OJ way -- he's fallen and will never be a national hero again no matter what the verdict.

The South African police have a bad rep -- deservedly or not. Pistorius' defense is attacking the credibility of the police and the prosecution. I think the state and the LE want Pistorius to pay for his alleged crimes and it would be a victory, not an embarrassment, for authorities to secure a conviction.

The justice system in South Africa has a bad rep too, which is one of the reasons cited in the High Court's decision to allow the trial to be televised; they wanted it to be transparent and for people to see how the process works.

Anyway, I don't envy Judge Masipa. Her decision has to be based on the evidence. I think Nel has done a good job with the circumstantial evidence and painting a picture of Pistorius as an arrogant, jealous, hot-headed, gun-loving prick. But, I also think Rioux has done a good job of attacking the physical evidence handling and sowing the possibility that it was Pistorius screaming after gunshots and before beating down the door, rather than Reeva screaming after the first of two sets of gunshots.

If Rioux's succeeded in developing more strategies to put doubt around the screams and "the row" theory during the trial break and Nel hasn't got any more to bolster the state's theory and witness testimony, Masipa's gonna find him guilty of culpable homicide rather than premeditated murder, IMO (and a lot people are gonna scream bias or corruption, no matter how legally-sound the decision and rationale behind it). I don't believe that Pistorius' claim that he didn't "intentionally" pull the trigger makes any sense and all evidence speaks otherwise, so really don't think he's gonna beat the lesser charge if he's not convicted of premeditated murder.

I'm anxious for the trial to resume.

[HairOfTheDog]

TRIAL RESUMES -- DEFENSE WITNESSES TESTIFY

Rioux called Johan Stander and his daughter Carice to the stand today.

Johan was the manager of the estates and a neighbor of Pistorius. He was the man who Pistorius called after the shooting and he and his daughter were the people that security guard Baba followed into the house.

Pistorius neighbor Johan Stander made an impassioned defense of Pistorius on the stand as he described what he saw that night.

Snip:
"His commitment to save the young lady's life -- when he put his finger in the young lady's mouth ... how he begged her to stay alive. ... I saw the truth that morning. I saw it. And I feel it," said Stander.

"Please, please, please, come to my house. I've shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder. Please, please, please, come quick," Pistorius begged Stander, the defense witness testified.

Stander's daughter Carice Stander Viljoen testified next.

Viljoen began her time on the stand by testifying to hearing a man shouting "help, help, help!" the night of the killing.

"My heart was pounding so fast. I was very afraid," she said, adding that she pulled her covers over her head.

"He was frantic," she said of Pistorius, pleading: "Carice, please, Carice, please, can we just get her to the hospital?"

Viljoen herself then broke down in tears on the stand, prompting Judge Thokozile Masipa to offer her a break. She declined, apologizing and saying she just needed a minute.

"He was begging me to put her in the car and take her to the hospital," she said when she recovered, her voice faltering.

But Steenkamp was pronounced dead at the scene after an ambulance arrived, Viljoen said.

Viljoen was afraid Pistorius would kill himself after Steenkamp was declared dead, she said, adding that she ran upstairs, shouting after him when he went to get Steenkamp's handbag for ID.

Her voice cracked as she described her fear, but the athlete came back with the bag a moment later.

Ref: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/05/world/...ius-trial/
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There are about 10 more defense witnesses expected to testify before closing arguments begin.

[crash]

"Please, please, please, come to my house. I've shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder.

This statement sticks out to me. If Stander (and by assumption his daughter too, if she was present) isn't lying, then Pistorious was a quick thinking son of a bitch to come up with that story so quickly..

Or he thought it out before he shot her.

It will be interesting to see how Nel tackles the defence witnesses.

[ramseycat]

The "defence" witness? Is that the witness that is on the fence about his testimony?

[crash]

I typed 'defense' but the stoopid autocorrect on my PC, kept changing it. I think it likes sport more than court.

[ramseycat]

Uh huh.

[crash]

:shrugs:

It only ever does it in Mock. I figured it must be an American thing like the color/colour, fantasize/fantasise thing, so I left it.



*facepalm*

Justifying myself to the forum dolt, wtf have I become.

Jesus fucking wept..

ETA: apologies HotD, I know this is the crime forum, no more OT.