Pistorius Is Indicted on Murder Charge

[Recursion]

Source: NYT

In a case that has transfixed many in the sporting world and beyond, Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic and Olympic track star, was indicted Monday in a South African court on a charge of premeditated murder in the death of his girlfriend. Magistrate Desmond Nair set a trial date for March 3, 2014.

Mr. Pistorius, who has been out on bail since February, will remain free until then.

At Monday’s hearing, the state prosecution released a copy of its lengthy indictment of Mr. Pistorius, outlining its case that he intentionally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, as she cowered behind a locked bathroom door on the morning of Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.

Prosecutors listed more than 100 witnesses that they plan to call during the trial.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/world/africa/oscar-pistorius.html?_r=0

[JI7]

1. i have heard it could take years for this trial to end

and why is it so late.

i feel like he is going to get away with it.

[jessie04]

2. What was his motive to kill the girl ?

money?...doubt
hotter babe ?....no indication

I don't have a clue.

[darkangel218]

3. Maybe she wanted to leave him

Or she was having an affair?,

I don't believe that he made a " mistake". Wtf mistake is that? Why would a burglar go in the bathroom? To steel teepee? .

:

[wercal]

5. I think it was a mistake

At the time of the murder, some of his 'tweets' were shown...I remember in one he joked about almost shooting the washing machine one night. The man was paranoid. He lived in a walled community, with razor wire on top.

Living in South Africa is something I cannot relate to - but apparently if you have money (and he did), there is a more than remote possibility of being kidnapped. Add to that his very wreckless personality (he was known for driving exotic sportscars incredibly fast), and the man was a 'loose cannon'.

So I absolutely believe he was shooting at an intruder in his mind. Now that doesn't excuse his behavior....I don't know the ins and outs of South African law, but blindly shooting at what you believe to be a human being, even if it is an intruder, may still be illegal...especially if the suspected intruder is trapped in the bathroom. So I suspect he will spend a lot of time in prison.

[darkangel218]

6. He will get away with it. hes SAs darling.

Mark my words.

[iandhr]

18. She was as well

[darkangel218]

19. True. But shes gone.

They will aquit him, watch and see. No wonder he hasn't spent any real time in jail yet.
They will let him go.

[iandhr]

20. Its tragic

[wercal]

21. Well he might get away with it

He has been charged with premeditated murder....

I believe he is a paranoid lunatic who accidentally killed her due to his own wrecklessness - homicide, but not premeditated.

I don't know how things work in South Africa, but IMHO he has been overcharged...which in some US states could lead to acquittal.

The prosecution is basing the 'premeditated' part on the idea that he took the time to put his legs on...but he would feel completely helpless without them. It would be like me putting my glasses on, if I thought a prowler was in the house - I'm completely useless without them. So I think they are making a mistake with the charge. Surely there is another charge option, that doesn't require it be premeditated.

But I find it hard to believe he would be acquitted based purely on his celebrity. The victim was also a celebrity, as I understand it.

[darkangel218]

7. The "burglar" didnt run and hide in the bathroom.

When he woke up he heard someone in the bathroom. If it truly was a burglar, Wtf was he doing in the bathroom? What was there to steal? It defies logic.

[wercal]

22. You are projecting your own logical evaluation of the situation onto Pistorius

We know he was paranoid. He hears a bump in the night...he shoots at it. Sure it makes no sense to you and me - but in the heat of the moment, it made sense to Pistorius. And BTW, deliberately murdering someone in your own home, where others can hear the gunshots, also defies logic, doesn't it?

BTW, I don't know why people are thinking in terms of a burglar...Pistorius wasn't necessarily worried about that. Rather, he was pathologically afraid of being kidnapped for ransom. So in his mind, whoever was in the bathroom was the boogey man (or group of men) that were about to come out and get him.

Doesn't make it right, and I'm certainly not defending his actions (blindly shooting into a door without knowing who was behind it). But I can certainly see him doing this. At the time of the murder, I saw interviews of Pistorius (from before the murders), and interviews with his friends. He was one paranoid SOB.

Here's a story about his accidentally shooting a gun in a restaurant:

http://www.businessinsider.com/police-pistorius-nearly-shot-friend-in-foot-2013-2

The same story recounts his tweet about going into 'full combat recon mode' because the washing machine was making noise at night.

And the story links to a NY times article, in which he describes another time he grabbed his 9mm and 'tiptoed downstairs'.

He shot first...and asked questions later.

[darkangel218]

23. BSFS!! so if i call myself a paranoid person, im therefore allowed to kill??

Fail logic. Defendants will always try their hardest to get away with it.

[wercal]

25. Speaking of logic

Where did you read that I thought he should get away with it?

[NickB79]

27. Prescription drugs are usually stored in the bathroom

Lots of burglaries involve the theft of drugs from the medicine cabinet. A full bottle of painkillers can be worth hundreds of dollars alone.

[darkangel218]

31. Thats a good point.

[darkangel218]

30. It wasnt meant towards you. I was saying his excuse is defying logic.

Geez...

[CBGLuthier]

8. I do not think it was a "mistake."

I think that story of his is the best bullshit excuse he could come up with for murdering his girlfriend in a fit of rage.

[darkangel218]

12. exactly right!!!!

+1million.

What upsets me is that he will get away with it.

[LisaL]

17. Neither do I.

He never checks to see if Reeva was in bed before shooting at this supposed intruder?
He knew full well she was in the apartment, it never occurs to him she could be using the bathroom?

[SummerSnow]

29. agreed. also if he thought someone was in the house to harm..

wouldn't he want to make sure she was safe ? Since he claims she was not in bed. I figure he would look for her or call out to her. When he approached the bathroom door why did he not call her name to see if she was in there?


example: Hun , you in there?
Yes, I'm using the bathroom
oh ok

[FarrenH]

24. I live in South Africa

Kidnapping is not a common crime here, but armed robbery is. Most Americans who come over are surprised by how fortress-like most of middle-class suburbia is. Everyone has high walls. Many have electric fencing and/or razor wire. It's three parts risk-mitigation and one part pure paranoia, some of it racially informed, since suburbia is still predominantly white, despite a growing black middle class.

The subculture of whites Pistorius came from is deeply paranoid, as reflected in some of his father's outrageous statements after the killing. While he was allegedly never very close to his father, there seems little doubt he grew up in an environment steeped in racially-charged paranoia and weapon-worship. So beyond legitimate security concerns, I think Pistorius was a little more paranoid and weapon crazy than most (the latter is attested to from his own mouth in interviews before the killing - the guy had an arsenal). Its also a very, very macho culture with unreformed attitudes to gender power relationships. The incidence of family murders is unusually high among white, Afrikaans-speaking men. I hasten to add that I don't want to broad-brush Afrikaners here, just paint a picture of a large subculture within Afrikanerdom.

What's emerged from many accounts of people close to him and people close to Reeva after the killing is that he was also a very, very jealous and controlling person when it came to relationships. And apparently Reeva had been in furtive text message exchanges with a former boyfriend who she was still friends with before the crime and her relationship with Pistorius was going through a rocky patch. I'm not going to pre-judge him though. Its as likely that the kind of shoot-first, ask-questions-later mentality of someone paranoid about violent crime was to blame as it is that he was just insanely jealous and murdered her in cold blood (possibly because, as one theory has it, she was furtively talking to an ex-boyfriend in the bathroom while she thought he was sleeping).

[wercal]

26. Thanks for the info

I had read that he spoke Afrikaans...and there was some implication that still using that language was a 'hat tip' of sorts to apartheid...wondered if that was accurate or not.

My ex-boss has made several trips to South Africa, and even had a foreign exchange student from there live with him. He reports that the people he knows there are discouraged, because more and more areas are considered 'not safe' at night, and they can't go there anymore. He also reported on the fortress atmosphere that people lived in. I have even seen wild stuff on tv, like electrified car doors and flamethrowers installed in cars, to keep robbers and kidnappers at bay. So I can imagine the atmosphere, to a degree.

And Pistorius' own words and actions before and after the murder paint the picture of a paranoid lunatic.

I happen to believe he really thought he was being robbed/kidnapped, etc...and just started wildly firing into the bathroom.

Some people say that just isn't logical.

But neither is premeditated murder, in a condo complex, where there is a 100% certainty of getting caught.

Excessive fear and/or rage - either could have caused him to act in an illogical manner that night.

[Blue_Tires]

9. My thinking was that there was another man trying to pull her away

or maybe she just wanted to call it quits and Pistorius was an obsessive/controlling/jealous type...It's no secret that his treatment of her behind closed doors left a lot to be desired..

[darkangel218]

13. Yeeps. Youre absolutely correct.

[darkangel218]

4. You can bet on it that he will get away.

[Blue_Tires]

10. Maybe if his girlfriend was a "regular" person, he'd have a better chance for acquittal

But she came from a wealthy, influential family, and her celebrity status was pretty high....

[darkangel218]

11. If i remember corectly, the victims father " forgave" him.

This case is sick all around. I don't buy a word of his bs lies. He's a murderer.

[LisaL]

15. No, you don't remember correctly.

Father said he might forgive Pistorious one day.

[darkangel218]

16. Allrite, i guess i misunderstood.

[LisaL]

14. No, she didn't come from the wealthy family.

[SummerSnow]

28. She was cowering in the bathroom behind a closed door..

Why would she do this unless she was afraid?