Pistorius apologizes for killing girlfriend

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By GERALD IMRAY and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - Fighting back tears, Oscar Pistorius began testifying at his murder trial on Monday by apologizing to the family of the girlfriend he shot dead.

The Olympic athlete also recalled the panic attacks he says he has suffered since he killed Reeva Steenkamp last year and described how he has nightmares that he has caused him to wake up to the "smell of blood."

"There hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that I haven't thought about your family," the double-amputee runner said as he addressed the courtroom and Steenkamp's mother, June, looked straight at him, stone-faced.

"I wake up every morning and you're the first people I think of, the first people I pray for ... I was simply trying to protect Reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night she felt loved," said Pistorius, stating the central part of his defense, that he shot Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was an intruder in his bathroom.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140407/DAD199Q81.html

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Oscar Pistorius weeps as he listens to evidence by a pathologist in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, April 7, 2014. Pistorius is charged with murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines Day 2013. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, Pool)

[FarrenH]

1. I've no doubt he regrets the killing

But as a South African, I have to say that whether he's guilty of murder or not the facts of the killing casts him in a very poor light.

If he murdered Reeva in a (presumably jealous, from the innuendos in the state's case) rage, that obviously speaks to the dark side of Oscar Pistorius. But even if the defense he mounted is true, it speaks to an very unsavory side of Oscar we never knew before.

Firstly, it's emerged that he is a gun nut. Secondly, his defense relies on an extraordinarily paranoid view of life in the gated communities of upper-class South Africa, one that is laden with the tropes of the "white genocide" crowd over here - racist whites (especially Afrikaners) who have a strong presence over at Stormfront and claim the white South African community is the target of a coordinated campaign of genocide disguised as ordinary crime and tacitly approved by the authorities through willful neglect in combating it.

The distance between reality and this view is easy to see in the stats. SA does have a high rate of violent crime, but only in the farming community (the original "base" of Afrikaans conservatism under Apartheid) are white victims over-represented. This can easily be accounted for by the fact that they're relatively isolated and easy targets and that to this day many of them run their farms like feudal fiefdoms, with shocking abuse of vulnerable workers, creating ample motive for revenge killings. The statistics for the entire population tell a different story. Whites are 9% of the population and 2% of crime victims. White suburbanites who live in upper-class gated estates are the least vulnerable group in the entire country. Some of them refuse to believe this and make wild, conspiratorial claims about police statistics being cooked, et al, despite the fact that various independent monitors say the same thing.

Yet considerably more vulnerable South Africans are considerably less paranoid. There isn't a one-to-one correlation, but gun nuts who think wildly firing 4 shots through a door without making any effort at identification or waking their partner to phone the cops first is reasonable behaviour, or the panic that might induce such behaviour is a reasonable reaction, invariably harbor a deep fear and distrust of blacks - who at the very least they think harbor many with genocidal intent in their ranks. It basically stems from projecting reciprocal racial fear and hatred onto the original targets of racial fear and hatred. "They're just like us because this is a natural and normal human condition". IOW the product of racism.

Whatever the verdict, I've lost respect for Pistorius.

[Blue_Tires]

4. I've always wondered if there was another man involved

or maybe Pistorius was hyper-paranoid that there *might* be another man trying to steal his girl away...

He does strike me as the possessive and jealous type...

[lapislzi]

6. Another South African here

That is, I lived in SA from 1985 - 1994. I was extremely hopeful when Mandela was installed as president, and to some degree I still am. I was shocked at the level of paranoia among white people that I experience every time I visit. Last time, on the way from the (Jhb) airport, my ex-brother-in-law yanked the iPhone from my hand and shoved it in the locked glove box. "You can't show that here!" Well, what is the point of having it? I believe in exercising sensible caution, especially in strange surroundings. But to experience paranoia to the level that you have to barricade yourself is just crazy.

That being said, I think Pistorius's claims that he was terrified of intruders are both exaggerated, and a convenient excuse that he knew he could get away with using. Not very different from a Zimmerman or any of the other "stand your ground" type murderers getting away with it under our noses.

I would be interested to read the stats on crime in agricultural areas. Is it concentrated in one or another part of the country? Despite being the inventors of the "dop" system of remuneration, the western Cape always seemed to me to be a little more laid back. I was far up the west coast the last time I was there (those places where nie engels praat nie), and things seemed a lot more relaxed.

Your take? Message me to chat more on SA matters.

[FarrenH]

19. I haven't seen the numbers broken down by region

but I'm guessing the Cape wine lands are the least affected. From newspaper articles and the noises from the Transvaal Agricultural Union, I'm guessing it happens more in the trekboer heartlands. I don't want to sound like I've got a beef with white Afrikaners, though. Its just there is a vocal and sizeable minority of that community that never left Apartheid behind. I've heard horror stories about what goes on on some farms to this day. Including horror stories told to my face by farmers who, in the manner of most ignorant and stupid racists, assumed I share their boneheaded world view because I share their melanin deficiency. By the available numbers farmers are about 1.7 times more at risk than the national average and most of the commercial farmers are still white (of course all the other outliers are sectors of the poor, black community). And that average is driven down by the much lower than average risk of white suburbanites. And I'm at the same time fascinated and appalled by how the Internet has created a kind of global narrative of "white genocide" among far-right racists, which is adapted to suit the circumstances of each country (whether it's genocide by "miscegenation" or genocide by overlooked crime or whatever) but is recognizable by the shared tropes. Of course they just gobble this shit about deliberate genocide of the boers up on Stormfront.

An American pol-sci friend who studied the relationship of the Afrikaans banking system to the Apartheid regime over here (pretty awesome to befriend a Black American who could speak Afrikaans and was a Taoist to boot), then switched to journalism and settled down here for a while, once said that the Germans really internalized guilt over the Nazis after WWII and hammered in into their kid's heads, and it was interesting how the soft revolution and extraordinary spirit of forgiveness over here, without economic reprisals, allowed unrepentant whites to cling to their sense of innocence and even feel extraordinarily and self-righteously aggrieved at the loss of political power - even as we maintained economic power, a situation which persists to this day.

To any Americans reading this I don't want you to get the impression we're mostly unrepentant racists. Obviously 20 years after Apartheid and being only 9% of the population that would be unsustainable. But I continue to be amazed at how we can still dominate the economy and still harbour such a large minority of racists with grudges in our midst in the new SA, especially since whatever you hear from hysterical whites who say "reverse racism" is everywhere and despite the fact that blacks are still as a group economically disadvantaged, I see little resentment towards whites. There is more xenophobia towards other black Africans.

And yeah, the paranoia in many quarters just blows my mind. I don't know how people can live with that crippling fear. I've gone to bed with back doors open for 8 years now so my dogs can get in and out with only one minor incident of theft. I'm not saying crime doesn't happen - I know people who've experienced armed home invasions - but sometimes it seems like the experiences of those people are the source of anecdotes trotted out by 20 to 30 of their other friends or work colleagues when they're trying to vindicate the belief that OMG crime is everywhere and out of control. There's also a complete failure to acknowledge that, as the stats tell us, violent crime spiked in 2005 and has been in significant decline ever since - *especially* in the 'burbs.

[lapislzi]

24. That is exactly what I would have expected

I lived on a farm in the heart of AWB country. We could see van Tonder's Transvaal Republic flag from the hill on our property (he was a pleasant and courtly gentleman...provided you addressed him in Afrikaans). It worries me that those types are still active, still recruiting, and still think they've got just cause (if they ever did, which they didn't). Those guys scared the shit out of me, and still do.

My family and friends in SA are a mixed bag (no pun intended). Most are genuine in their desire to do what's best for the coming generations. Some are only too happy to gloat over the latest skandaal that washes over the ANC, as if this is some kind of evidence that they are unfit to govern. Most have been victims of some kind of crime--two were murdered in their homes. Hard to sift through to figure out who's doing what to whom and why. I am pretty sure that, crimes though they were, the motivation was not racial. A burglary's a burglary. A botched burglary can often turn into murder, especially if you are a stupid person who doesn't take the time or trouble to protect and secure his firearm.

As backward as pre-Mandela South Africa was, you still needed a permit for a firearm, and you had to pass a shooting course. I will never forget the young police recruit at the shooting range (he looked like Rolf from "The Sound of Music&quot drilling me with my newly-minted Taurus gun (that I didn't want). Your firearm is like your child. You must know its whereabouts at all times. You must secure it. You must protect it or it will be used against you, probably to kill you. Like in the US, stupid people with guns are their own worst enemies. Paranoid, stupid people with guns? Will the defendant Mr. Pistorius please rise?

But, as you say, it is very difficult to argue convincingly against these tropes. Peace to you. And I do miss South Africa!

[freshwest]

22. Thank you and FarrenH for an informed, enlightened view of the situation. Eye opening. n/t

[BainsBane]

8. I actually believe his version of events

His behavior since the shooting seems consistent with what he described.

[passiveporcupine]

10. his panic attacks fit very well

with someone who is a coward and afraid he's been caught and might end up in jail. Sorry. I don't believe him for a minute.

If he had called out to see who was in the bathroom (and warned them that he was armed or police was on the way), his girlfriend would have answered him. He didn't even do that, because he knew who was in the bathroom. And there were witnesses to the screaming and yelling and gun shots and they don't fit his story at all.

[lapislzi]

11. If he told me water was wet, I would turn the tap on to check.

I have met way too many of his type in my years in South Africa: entitled, paranoid, and completely narcissistic.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more pathologically narcissistic, racist, misogynistic minority outside of the American tea party.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. Another thank you for sharing

How you experience your world.

[Aristus]

2. Shed a few tears, win aquittal for murder.

Fuck that guy. Hope they find him guilty and he rots in prison.

You bought the gun deliberately, you loaded the gun deliberately, you fired the gun deliberately. End of story.

Cry me a river, fuckhead...

[freshwest]

21. Nailed it. The judge will let him off since he 'wouldn't do well in prison,' like the DuPont rapist.

[Coventina]

3. Oh, well, as long as he's SORRY.....

[Estevan]

5. I guess gun nuts aren't exclusive to the U.S after all

Hopefully S.A has more common sense.

[Lurks Often]

7. Manslaughter at a MINIMUM

I haven't followed the case closely, so I can't speak to motive, but you don't fire at a noise without identifying what you are shooting at first.

[WCLinolVir]

9. What a ham! Honestly, his level of insanity

boggles my mind. And that is hard to do when it comes to violent acts. I might believe he is worried about his own freedom, in which case I would think that he could be harboring a significant amount of rage at having to go through this trial, or that he had a psychotic split (or has been hiding one), that allows him to see himself as the victim, and her as well. In any case he internally claims no responsibility for an intentional act, which is loopier than a revenge killing. I think he is lying through his teeth. Either way, I think he is grossly unstable and should be put away. I think if he gets free he will commit other acts of violence.
If this guy gets off he will start a foundation in her name, with some bs premise of preventing violent break-ins. Or address some cause she was passionate about. Please pull the plug on him judge.

[lapislzi]

13. Typical of an abuser.

It's never their fault. The victim "drove them to it." Or they were drunk. Or the kids were too noisy. Or work stressed them out. Or the tea towels weren't precisely folded and put away.

Poor, poor man, he is the victim of the incompetence and ineptitude of every human he has ever encountered.

[Tom Ripley]

17. +1000

[WCLinolVir]

20. Yes, the trial is all her fault too. If only he could make her pay posthumously.

[lapislzi]

25. Well, ja, see...?

If she hadn't gone and died all messy like, we wouldn't have all this trouble.

[KamaAina]

12. Well, as long as he's sorry

[mackerel]

14. surely he regrets or the implications of it

Of it, if he found the country that he lived in was so frightening why not just move somewhere safer he had the money to do that.

[dawn frenzy adams]

15. The only time a narcissist cries ...

is when he is finally caught. Those tears are not for Ms. Steenkamp, who he battered, bullied, and ultimately killed. Those tears are for him. Don't be fooled. Narcissist love one person, themselves. If he is acquitted, in a short time, he'll return to his old narcissistic self.

[Arugula Latte]

16. Oh yeah you regret it, 'cuz your ass is on the line.

Violent creep.

[Skittles]

18. his story is as ridiculous as Zimmerman's

let's just hope the jury there is not as stupid as the one in Florida

[JI7]

23. i don't think they have a jury here

i think the judge will decide

[FarrenH]

28. We don't have jury trials

The judge makes a ruling.

[benld74]

27. His side has so many holes in their story it cant possibly be believed

[lapislzi]

29. He is relying on what he believes is his entitled status.

I met a hundred of his type when I lived in South Africa. They think they're immune to any kind of punishment. And that used to be true. A white man could pretty much kill a person of color or a woman (of any color) with impunity in the old South Africa.

Now he works the tropes of the paranoia that have been stirred up by the malcontents of his class for the past two decades. Poor white people under siege, blah, blah, blah, cry me a river.

To be fair, most of the South African whites I know are living quite peacefully and in continued comfort, and don't buy into that story.