On Valentine’s Day of this year, South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp repeatedly and killed her. He shot her through a locked bathroom door. It was awful. The police seemed to believe that Reeva’s death was murder, premeditated homicide, but Oscar claimed that he thought Reeva was a burglar or something and that’s why he shot through the locked bathroom door. Oscar had been formally charged months ago, and he’s been out on bail this whole time. “Friends” say that Oscar is a “broken man” and that he’s “suicidal” although one friend quoted Oscar as saying, “I’ll survive. I always win.” So… it’s a mixed bag. Early this morning in South Africa, Oscar was formally indicted on the charge of premeditated murder:
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.
Mr. Pistorius has admitted opening fire in his upscale home in the South African capital of Pretoria, but says he believed he had been shooting an intruder. There is no death penalty in South Africa, where the mandatory sentence for premeditated murder is life with a minimum of 25 years in prison.
As he waited for the brief court hearing to begin on Monday, Mr. Pistorius prayed with his family and wept openly. Close friends of Ms. Steenkamp sat on court benches just a few feet away. Ms. Steenkamp, a model and reality television star, would have turned 30 on Monday.
Defense lawyers have depicted the shooting as a tragic accident in which Mr. Pistorius, 26, believed that an intruder had entered his home, where Ms. Steenkamp, a law school graduate, was spending the night. According to defense testimony, Mr. Pistorius opened fire through a locked bathroom door, not realizing that Ms. Steenkamp was on the other side. She was hit by at least three bullets.
Before the shooting, Mr. Pistorius and Ms. Steenkamp were depicted as a gilded couple, featured in celebrity news coverage.
News reports in South Africa over the weekend said Mr. Pistorius may also face new charges of recklessly firing a weapon in public related to accusations that he discharged a weapon in a restaurant in January and fired a gun from a car while driving home from a vacation. Those reports have not been confirmed by the defense or the prosecution.
Mr. Pistorius, nicknamed the Blade Runner for the prosthetics he uses to compete, had a reputation for his outsized triumphs, not just against other disabled athletes but against able-bodied competitors.
He won two gold medals and a silver at last September’s Paralympic Games in London. In the 2012 Olympics the month before, he reached the 400-meter semifinal and competed in the 4×400-meter relay.
Quite honestly, I had moved on to other things and I haven’t paid attention to this case in months. So the part about possible additional charges is new to me – it seems kind of random that prosecutors would add on some additional “weapons” charges when they’re also trying him for murder, but maybe they’re talking about it now to show a pattern of Oscar’s gun-happy behavior. And you know what? I still believe that Oscar killed her on purpose. Really.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Yep. Totally killed that broad.
Is that term necessary?
well….. yeah? everyone knows he killed her, the controversy is whether or not he did it on purpose.
This. He’s guilty this way or the other, but it’s a big difference if he did it on purpose.
I think Heebeegeebee is referring to the term ‘broad’.
A family have lost a loving daughter, sister and by all accounts, a wonderful friend.
In this context it just seems a bit glib.
I hope Reeva’s family and Reeva herself get justice. Her family sound incredibly gracious from the few interviews and soundbites they have given.
oh, I was replying to the original comment! not heebee’s. I thought it was weird because like….. duh, he killed her. and I agree that using “broad” is harsh and uncalled for.
Ah, sorry, that’s my bad, I’d better go work on my reading comprehension!
Thank you Amelia. I tried to edit my comment twice to clarify, but it wouldn’t load.
First thought after reading additional charges Roid rage.
I have friends living in Pratoria who know some people who have daily interaction with him, and the rumors among some of the people who have worked with him are that he does indeed use performance enhancing drugs and has the overblown aggression related to such use.
They also told me that public opinion is decidedly against him. Except for his stylist who defends him to anyone who will listen.
Vanity Fair did an article on him some months ago that talked about his vicious temper and other gun incidents. Also, the witnesses will testify that they heard her screaming, then gun shots. I don’t know how anyone could swallow his bullshit story.
Sad, but I believe he did it too. You’ve got an emotionally charged holiday, and en-suite bathroom, and a man wakes up in the middle of the night thinking the burglar is what, stealing his Mach 3 razor? Doesn’t call out to see who it is, doesn’t tell the spouse that is supposed to be in bed beside him to take cover or protect herself, doesnt even check for her before he grabs his gun and starts firing, and oops! it just happens to be her in the bathroom.
Yea I’m on my Nancy Grace this morning, but geez his story sounds ludicrous
He definitely did it, there’s no question about it. What makes it so ridiculous is that he’s sticking with this dumb “it was an accident” story…who really believes that? I’m glad he was indicted for premeditated murder because IMHO that’s what it was.
His story has huge holes and that’s not even including how she was found in a locked bathroom. This guy has a history of violence.
This! I watched the reinactment of what he said vs where the bullet holes were. He raged and killed her on purpose there’s no doubt. For her family’s sake I hope the trial ends quickly. 100 witnesses sounds like months of prosecution.
I hope they throw the book at this murder. I’m not informed on the South African justice system, so I don’t know how it works. I really hopes he pays for the crime and her family can get some kind of peace and justice.
It’s been suggested that the additional charges have been brought in for 2 reasons. The first is to aid the theory that he is trigger happy. The second is perhaps because they don’t have enough on him for a pre – med murder conviction. I believe his story.
I do too. I believe its very likely to have been an accident. It wasn’t the first time he’d unloaded a gun in his home, thinking there was an intruder, and plus they were still in the early, blissful days of their relationship. He would have skipped to the worst end result of the abuse cycle, without going through most of the beginning stages of abuse (extremely rare). Anyways, can’t know for sure either way, but id put my money on him being found innocent.
We cant be sure he DID skip the beginning abuse stages. But heres what we know:
1) Reeva was building a name as an anti gender based violence advocate. You may think that it would make it easier to leave an abusive relationship. You would be wrong. Abuse is incredibly complex, there are psychiatrists, judges, cops trapped in such relationships. Often these people suffer even greater shame for not reading the signs sooner. Believe it or not, this makes them LESS likely to report the abuse
2) She was her families main breadwinner. And her earning potential leaped when she started dating Oscar. Its possible this factored in on whether to leave or even confide in family.
3) This is not shade but I do think Reeva was an image conscious girl. Not just with media but with friends too. We all know people like this. People who hide the ugly in their lives even from best friends until its too much.
4) Oscar was a rage monster going from stories of separate incidences. It should surprise no one that a man with no control over his anger could go from knot to 60 in seconds. Even if in the FEW SHORT MONTHS they had dated, he hadnt so much as slapped her (and I dont believe he hadnt!).
Oh yes, I absolutely agree, bc I was once the girl that all my friends thought had the perfect relationship. With a beautiful man I loved that secretely beat me. But even though I believe myself to be a very compassionate and understanding person, who stays away from drama and rarely gets angry, if you interviewed everyone I’ve known in the last ten years, you could find at least a handful of ppl that would say Im a raving, mad woman. And in the overwhelming opinion of ppl that know Oscar, he was a warm hearted, caring individual, he had a natural connection with children, and he took pride in being the best role model and person he could be, even though some said he could have a short fuse, but even when, mostly in unviolent ways.
I believe him too. I think people need to consider the mindset of a man without legs. The vulnerability. The paranoia. I don’t think he intentionally murdered his girlfriend.
Absolutely. People can sometimes forget our differences and unique circumstances, and just look at the common answer instead of the individual one.
Ugh. George Zimmerman was feeling vulnerable and paranoid too, but I doubt you have this sympathy for him. You can’t have it both ways.
But George isn’t Oscar and Oscar isn’t George, and Reeva wasn’t Trayvon, etc. That’s my point. And I don’t have sympathy for his situation bc it was undisputedly preventable and instigated by GZ, and he, imo, showed no sympathy towards TM after the fact and attempted to profit from his death, And whether or not this was a murder hes guilty for that. And so far, he has succeeded in his get rich quick attempts, and it drives me nuts that he actually has fans, but the world is unfair sometimes and I believe everything will right itself in the end.
Add to that living in a culture that only it’s inhabitants can understand. I’ve been told that fear is part of life there, because of the threat of robbery. Simple things you “just don’t do”, like going for a walk or parking your car outside. Rightly or wrongly, I understand that’s the way life is there.
Yeah, and where gated communities don’t mean you are safe and shouldn’t be in fear of your surroundings.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but I think his story is ludicrous. Why would an intruder break into your house and then lock themselves in the bathroom if they were going to hurt you? Why wouldn’t you be certain it wasn’t your girlfriend in there before shooting through the door? Why not just call the police and keep a gun on the door? Even if you thought it was an intruder, why kill them if you didn’t have to when they are running away from you? If you thought they were robbing you, is it really necessary to kill them? Do robbers get the death penalty in his country? It makes no sense to me at all.
I understand but if his story Is true it does make sense that while in fear of his life he may not be wasting time to weigh his options and think of a sensible plan. And people do things constantly that don’t really make sense to others, I mean, basically its easy to look over your neighbors fence and judge, harder to be in their shoes. Their are over 6 billion people in this world and sometimes things are not always as they seem, reactions in crisis are different, etc.
People with disabilities want to be respected for what they have to contribute to society and to be given a chance to do so. They do not want people like Oscar using his disability as a poor me excuse in a murder trial. Despite lacking legs this man was a finely trained physical specimen in better shape than most men will ever be. I can not imagine the horror of having to confront a burglar , especially if I had no legs, but i will never believe that is what happened that night.
1 If he felt a burglar was in his bathroom he would have called 911 even after he grabbed his gun.
2 He would have instantly screamed for his gf to run for help/leave the house
3 His gun was kept in a metal box under his bed. In order to grab it he would have seen his gf was no longer in bed
4 The neighbors heard screaming. A female scream is distinctive. He would have known her voice.
5 The police found two cell phones in the bathroom, one of them under the victim and one of them broken. Oscar would have heard her familiar voice through the vathroom door and would not have fired.
6 I have heard reports that their was extensive damage to the bathroom door, not just small bullet holes. He would have been able to see into the bathroom after the first shot and not have shot his gf two more times.
7 Many people have talked about his hair trigger temoer and aggression. The mother of a recent ex gf said she was glad her daughter got out of the relationship in time and that her daughter had been afraid of Oscar in the past.
8 Some friends of the victim claim she felt intimidated by Oscar, was afraid of his temper and behavior and was trying to figure out how best to leave him. One friend claims to have emails from her supporting this.
One commentor said how could a happy relationship just turn deadly in one night. Well this can and does happen a lot. But what also happens is that people in bad relationships or with disturbed personalities become very good at hiding it from family and friends. I believe she finally told him it was over and he flew into a rage, killing her as she cowered behind a locked bathroom door trying to call for help. Either that or he woke up in the middle of the night and overheard her in the bathroom talking on her cell. He may have realized or assumed that the conversation was intended to be private and then flown into a rage, shooting her as she cowered behind the door. I pray there will be justice here.
I don’t know how the charges work in SA, but I hope they have enough evidence to prove premeditation, so he can’t get off on a technicality like certain other people.
I think he killed her on purpose, but I don’t think it was something he had long been planning. But I don’t know what constitutes premeditation.
I read that premeditation can simply be the act of reaching for a weapon, there doesn’t have to be planning involved. But I am not an expert.
Yes the act of fetching the murder weapon or even loading a weapon in the presence of your victim can be construed as premeditation in some jurisdictions.
I’m not sure, but i think in SA the premeditation just relates to the sentence he will get rather than being the whole charge in and of itself. So if they prove premed he will get 25-life if they don’t but they prove murder it will be 15 minimum if I remember correctly.
Yes. The trial will simply decide if he’s guilty/innocent of murder. Then, at sentencing, they ask whether it’s premeditated (and if so, give a longer sentence).
It’s totally different to US or English murder trials where there are 3 categories (planned murder/1st degree, unplanned murder/2nd degree and manslaughter). There are only two categories:
a) Murder = intentional killing (Which covers premeditated murder AND unplanned murder AND any types of manslaughter where the defence was “I was provoked/crazy/drugged”.)
b) Culpable Homicide = unlawful negligent killing. (AKA manslaughter cases where the defence is “I did something incredibly risky/stupid”.)
His story sounds absurd, hope he is held accountable for killing this poor woman.
+ 1
+2
Really, just absurd. If I knew my husband was in the house, I would never risk …oh it’s too ridiculous to even go into. That poor woman and her family.
I agree that it is a totally absurd excuse. He was a law unto himself and a raging bully. I’m sure he got away with lots before because money speaks. How terribly frightened and vulnerable poor Reeva must have been knowing what he is capable of. Nowhere to run no-one to help her. How can you fire at someone and they don’t call out in fear and shock? Does he claim he never heard? Even so, let’s say the first bullet killed her- there would have been silence and therefore no reason to continue shooting at “the burglar” if the first bullet didn’t kill her she would have cried out to him and he would have stopped, right? Unless of course the intent was to kill. The other thing that begs an answer is this- If he was so shocked to discover his “accident” and wanted to perform resuscitation techniques to “recue” her, why carry her limp body downstairs to resuscitate her? Since he’s done the whole shooting thing and everything else on “instinct” one would assume that he would perform resuscitation right there and then on “instinct”. But, no, he removes the dying woman from the crime scene to conveniently resuscitate her as far as possible from the crime scene. Why? What was he hoping to hide? If the judge misses these developments we can have no hope in the South African justice intelligence at all. RIP Reeva and may your loved ones and you get justice.
I think it was intentional too. If I think I hear something in the middle of the night, I wake my husband next to me and he would do the same. If he wasn’t in bed, I would assume he was the one in the bathroom. I don’t pump bullets into the door when the “threat” is clearly not currently threatening me in a bathroom. It has to be intentional.
Not only that, but all the excuses about living in a “bad” neighborhood are so lame- they guy was very wealthy, he could have had enormous security, yet he leaves his terrace door open, and then, the “gentleman” that he is, thinks there’s an intruder, and doesn’t whisper to the girlfriend to go hide somewhere safe? doesn’t realize she’s not in the bed? I don’t think so. I think his enormous ego was fuled by roidrage and he decided to teach her a lesson.
I always wonder if murders like this are precipitated by “…and I’m going to tell the whole world about…”
Yeah that’s one of the big things that makes me think he did it on purpose. How/why would he get up and confront the *intruder* without first making sure his girlfriend was ok? Even if the thought there was an intruder, the intruder could’ve been holding the girlfriend hostage in the bathroom so why would he start shooting in there?
I wonder if he could use sleep as an excuse? Like he was still sort of sleeping when it happened? Not that I think that’s the case but just wondering if that would even be a plausible excuse.
Totally. A reasonable person would call out to whoever is in the house with them to see where they are.
I really hope justice prevails.
Oh, sigh. It’s not looking good for Oscar, is it? Not sure about premeditation rules in SA either, but it does look to me as though he shot her deliberately.
It’s very depressing when a well-known person you’ve admired falls from grace in such an um… um… I don’t know, savage way. I can’t see a better way of describing it.
I took my kids to where he trains when we were on holiday in Italy a couple of years back. They were desperate to meet him and they did. He was friendly and gracious and took much more time than he needed to talk to them.
And now we’re all having to rethink.
Oh, that is depressing. Maybe it’s a lesson to your kids that even the most wonderful people have bad impulses (hopefully not murderous ones, but still bad), but they make the choice regularly to be their best selves.
I think it was murder without premeditation. It wouldn’t be the first time a person has murdered his/her lover in a sudden fit of rage and regretted it. Not that the regret or his good deeds mitigate anything. He stole Reeva’s life and should be punished to fullest extent possible.
I hope he gets his in court!!
I think premeditated is “you knew you were going to kill the person”— which doesnt always require a grand scheme. If they can prove you knew what you were doing, I think thats enough.
Anyway, I also tend to believe this guy did it– having seen one too many murder docus including nutty over achievers and “winners”. Otherwise I just cant see myself shooting at a door even if a burglar was inside. At least you fire a warning shot into the air and that would suffice….. ?
Oops, is that how premeditation is defined? So (despite my comment above) maybe it WAS premeditated. Definitely not a grand scheme. If it was planned in advance, he would have a better story. But I believe he knew he was killing Reeva.
Roid rage. Did anyone do a blood test?
Yeah, this guy makes me sick. I’m sure he’s weeping and praying in court – no bc he feels bad for the life he took, but for himself.
If he does get off, it will just prove that: 1. you can buy your freedom if you’re rich enough 2. and killing a woman isn’t that serious of a crime.
This.
He is in court weeping, praying. Makes my blood boil. Reeva isn’t “free” like he is until next spring. Someone should see about his next appendage.
Yeah, weeping for himself after killing his girlfriend. Classic sociopathic behavior.
I hope he is convicted and spends the rest of his life in prison.
There is no doubt in my mind that he knew exactly who he was shooting when he pulled the trigger. His story is ridiculous.
Agree. No matter how paranoid/unwell you are, the first thing you do if you fear your house has been broken into and there’s a threat to you is whisper your partner’s name and reach your hand out. He had the sense to reach under the bed for a pistol, but not to reach next to him/call out to the ‘intruder’ in the bathroom?! Come on! If there *any* holes in his affadvait he’s toast.
Is it really necessary to sexualize a woman’s murder by showing off her hot-bikini-babe pics in this context?
He is an athlete, Reeva was a bikini model. Pics of both of them in their professions were used.
Except – besides him in his professional attire, there is also a pic of only his face and one of him in a power suit being all smiley. But there is just ONE singe image of Reeva Steenkamp – showing her body and making a sexy face. This is nowhere neutral.
Umf — about the bikini shots, why are you bothered by that? She was a model for a living and there are tons of bikini shots of her out there on the web.
Don’t see your point.
I’m not bothered by her being a model. If this would be a story discussing her career as a bikini model, it would be all good and appropriate.
But it is not an article about her job.
So what I am bothered by is, this woman has been brutally killed and the pic, that we are offered of her is one where she is making sexy bed room eyes and the open mouth thing. A pic, that shows off her body. One that is meant to objectify her – in the context of violence and death.
Is it so hard to find one with just her face on it? Or one that shows her dressed? Tone, that doesn’t reduce her to the role of a sexy little object?
*unf* I think you make a really good point. I always look in the articles, hoping it is mentioned that she was a law school graduate- and yes, it was mentioned here. There are undoubtedly more appropriate pictures of her to use when discussing her death. There was much more to her than just a pretty face, and I agree that it would be nice to see her in a less sexed-up way.
@*unf* Joan Jett: Totally agree, although this is so ubiquitous now that I can’t blame CB.
I’ve gotten into the awful habit of skimming the stories at the Daily Mail website. OMG. If you’re young, female, attractive, and the victim of a violent and/or sexual crime, DM wants to write about you. Then if there are sexy, scantily clad photos of you, you go straight to the front page, dead or not. Actually, dead seems to be preferable.
How does anyone raise girls in this crazy world?
There are some pics of her on the red carpet and some acting stills and headshots as well.
I agree that is in poor taste and a little bit creepy.
I didn’t even read this article, but holy crap a quick google search shows a bunch of different pictures of the poor woman not in a lads rag. I’m not sure how pictures work at CB but maybe this was the only one they could get of her? If so they could have just not included it and we could google what she looked like.
He totally killed her, intended to kill her.
I literally thought about this yesterday.
I don’t know why, but I will be very surprised if he is convicted. Too much hero worship attached to him. I don’t buy his version of events. It doesn’t make sense that he thought there was a burglar but didn’t call out to his girlfriend.
Agreed. I don’t buy his story at all. Fact is, whoever he says he thought was hiding in the bathroom, they were HIDING in a LOCKED bathroom. Even if someone broke in and hid there, they were no threat to him. He shot repeatedly, with the intention of killing whoever was in that bathroom. Whether he believed that was Reeva or an intruder, it’s still murder.
But somehow if he’s convicted I will still be surprised.
Don’t hold off the innocent plea yet. Right now, South Africa government -Especially related for the National Congress- is confronting a new society angry and the growing rates of feminicides is making a hot iron in the hands of the government.
Actually a guilty conviction in Pistorius case would make a chance of image and will be used as an standard for the fight against the violence for women. Right now, women of the AC made an important role in manifestations against Pistorius and there’s a sense of anger for the bail.
Right now, Pistorius is not the hero we saw in London. We saw an angry and terrible man -Image of a social issue in SA-. It will be inmoral, but politically, a guilty plea will have most wins for other parties.
I haven’t read the affidavit in a long time, but it is my understanding that he did call out to her and she stayed in the bathroom, silent and afraid that there was an intruder in the house. By his account, he didn’t realize she was in the bathroom the whole time.
Still doesn’t pass the sniff test, (why wouldn’t she answer?) but I guess we shall see.
“he did call out to her and she stayed in the bathroom, silent and afraid that there was an intruder in the house.”
Problem with that statement though is that it is based on pure speculation as to why she was in the bathroom. Even if he a) truly believed there was an intruder and b) called out to her, why would he assume she was hiding rather than just didn’t hear him? And if he did believe she was afraid and hiding, wouldn’t that be all the more reason not to shoot through a closed door before identifying the person inside?
It seems odd that his speculation of her reasons for staying silent and hiding in the bathroom perfectly corroborate his belief that there was an intruder.
Anyway, his story does not add up and my armchair jury of one thinks he’s guilty.
This would be a turn of events if this man is found guilty. Imagine being a talked about athlete in 2012 then spending the rest of your life in jail possibly next year. His story is spotty.
Since they started running a biopic on OP at 3:00 AM weekly mornings about his innocence – it’s all crap.
He’s as guilty as sin.
Hope he gets life or 25 years without parole. It burns me that he’s a free man until March 2014.
Good I hope he’s found guilty!
Why would she have locked herself in the bathroom in the middle of the night in the house with her boyfriend only? Was she trying to protect herself from him? Kind of seems like it.
And as for his tears… Guess they don’t mean that much as only he knows why he really cried. Was it by any chance because he realised he might be “loosing” this time as he won’t. Be able to get away with a murder?
It does seem like he did it. He might not have had his prosthetics on at the time of the shooing but as many people pointed out, he could have called out. To the person who says he will get off because of Hero worship, I can assure u if he gets off it won’t be because people worship him. He didn’t live in a bad neighbourhood. He lived in what Americans might call a Wealthy Gated Community. South African.
GOOD! I hope he gets convicted
I hope the prosecution isn’t setting itself for failure. Seems a reach to say it was premeditated. But what do I know.
I find this case so fascinating. I don’t have an opinion on his guilt or innocence at this point though. I just find the evidence revealed to the media at this point to be quite compelling in either direction. This is the first time where I really don’t know what to believe. Ultimately though, I just feel sad for Reeva and those who loved her.
iirc, he said initially that he put on his blades before going to the bathroom door. Isn’t that enough time to notice that Reeva wasn’t in bed? I think his gated community also has a security guard at the entrance. His story sounds very far-fetched to me.
Nike sure knows how to pick ’em.
I am livid to hear that he is free until March of 2014. The fact that is disputed by no one is that he shot and killed an innocent woman in his home, when she was a guest in his home. Whether that was the result of him thinking there was an intruder and being irresponsible and trigger-happy with weapons that were too powerful for someone so thoughtless to be able to own, or whether it was the result of a fight and he meant to kill her, who cares? Should an irresponsible trigger-happy man who shoots first and asks questions later really be free in the world? He should never have been granted bail. He’s a dangerous man, EVEN according to his own (suspicious) story.
good point
I hear your point but this is in South Africa where bail laws are VERY different from the US/Canada etc.
Exactly, well said!
No matter it was “murder” or not, he is still a dangerous person!
Let’s all just stay the heck outta SA, then. What other maniacs are running rampant over there that they’ve granted bail? Totally unacceptable. My heart goes out to her family.
Refusing bail is detention without trial. SA has a very nasty history of that happening during apartheid – lots of people were detained without trial for racial/political reasons.
So these days they try to err on the other side, and grant bail unless there’s strong evidence they shouldn’t.
You’re never going to get the balance perfect: however you cut it, sometimes innocent will get stuck in jail while awaiting trial and sometimes guilty people are released on bail and cause problems.
I’m confused about the “premeditated” charge. There is no doubt in my mind that he intentionally killed her. But how much “premeditation” was there? To me, premeditated murder means forming a clear, rational plan and then executing it. In this case, I believe Reeva was trying to get away from him and locked herself in the bathroom. And then he shot her through the door in rage. Totally a murder, in my book, but premeditated? Maybe premeditated means something different in South Africa? Or are they throwing the book at him hoping to get a plea?
It depends on the laws there. Premeditation doesn’t have to involve a long drawn out plan in the US. Going and getting a gun and then shooting her through a door is, or could be considered, planning here; short-term planning, but planning nonetheless. Most definitely intent, if that’s how it went down.
There was no skipping of the beginning stages of abuse. There are already reports of friends, family and neighbors who’ve stated they had a volatile relationship and my guess is, that’s why she was trying to leave him. They were not in the honey moon phase of their relationship. post-mortem examination reveals she was crouching behind the bathroom door when she was shot in the head, hip and arm. why would she be crouching if she did not know he was there? She ran from him and hid in teh bathroom. He followed and shot through the door. If she had been on the toilet or at the sink or even in a standing position anywhere in the bathroom, I would give him the benefit of a doubt, but this was obviously fight in which he grabbed a gun and gave chase. She tried to hide. Makes me realize a door is no protection. If I ever need to hide in a room with a door lock, I will not stand or crouch on the other side of the door.
The person who is going to bring him down is the one person he mistreated the most – his ex Samantha Taylor.
He started dating her when she was 17, she’s almost 20. And apparently he was a nightmare to date, scared her many times, huge fights, scary behavior. She was the woman he threantned some guy to break his legs over. She cheated on Oscar with him.
Whatever she has to say will be very damning, starting with the fact that she has already told
Police she was very afraid of him and he once fired a gun through the roof of a car, and he liked to speed.
She was also pretty close to reveal everything he put her through to tabloids when they broke up (even giving an interview), and then all of a sudden she backed off. Threats maybe in his part, but if she had had the opportunity to speak up, Reeva would’ve stayed away from him. Although some people did warn her, but her team really encouraged the match.
The problem with Samantha is that she made a huge mistake: she bullied Reeva a lot on Twitter, Fb and by text message in the weeks leading up to her death calling her all sorts of childish names, along with her friends and sisters. So the defense might tear apart her statements by simply calling her jealous and crazy. Dumb girl.
What I don’t get is why Reeva? Did he finally snap? They had only met in november and started dating formally only in December. Too soon to be so passionate about someone.
I always feel like with him, anything is possible. He was crazy paranoid and very irresponsible with guns, at the same time he was also very crazy and moody with girlfriends. I just don’t get what made him want to throw all away for someone he had only met a few months before. He had so much stuff coming up: his foundation, the world championship or whatever, new endorsment deals with major companies. I don’t get it.
My boyfriend used to train with Oscar and was there when he threatened to break he guys legs.
Apparently Reeva was cheating (or flirting) on him with a famous rugby player here in SA who ran in the same circles as Oscar and her. What most people who know them (including my boyfriend) say is that although Reeva was a great girl, she was the type that hung around and tried to date athletes and if she and this rugby player worked out she would have left Oscar for him.
As for why the rage with such a new relationship- Oscar was/is super insecure and compensates for it with all of his overly “alpha male” behavior. I suspect that Reeva might have made some comment that really hurt him (most likely about his disability) and he reacted.
Here in SA “premeditated murder” just means “intentional”, not necessarily “planned”. The prosecutors are arguing that he had to retrieve both his prostheses and his gun before shooting her and that he knew when shooting that she was in the bathroom and couldn’t escape, so he intended to kill her (at least at the moment he pulled the trigger).
And yes, he was on performance enhancers- we have some of the most cutting edge, and still legal, products in the world.
Good info! Thanks.
I suspect that Reeva might have made some comment that really hurt him (most likely about his disability) and he reacted.
No offense, but you can’t possibly know what she said, if anything, unless there is a history of her tormenting him about his disability. It sounds like here, in the US, where defense attorneys start to dirty up the victim.
Screw him.
I was in Pretoria when this happened. A lot of people I talked to seemed to think it was on purpose.
I also know a member of the US Paralympic team who knows Oscar and said he wasn’t surprised in the least.
She was a beautiful woman,, and his feeling of inadequacy fueled the roid rage. The photos of him being taken out of his house after the murder tell the whole story; they were not of a distraught man who had accidentally killed his love. He did a better acting job in court, complete with tears. He’ll get off. Yet another abused woman too embarassed to document, and now there is no proof.
I think he was just trying to show he could murder his girlfriend like any other able bodied athlete
Lots of people seem confused about what premeditated murder means (in SA).
The trial itself doesn’t even address the question of whether it was planed or spur of the moment. (Remember that SA = trial by judge … they’re probably better at separating actions and planning better than a random jury member.) What it affects is sentencing (premed means a longer sentence) and bail: if the charge is going to be premeditated murder, they can refuse bail unless the accused shows “exceptional circumstances”.
However, that phrase is misleading: “exceptional” sounds like it should be rare. In practice it basically means: hasn’t done it before and isn’t likely to flee. So bail is more likely to be granted than not (which is what happened here).
http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2013-02-20-oscar-pistorius-case-bail-isnt-denied-as-easily-as-you-think/#.UhNXSNCQ-Uk
Justus says:
August 22, 2013 at 2:49 am
I agree that it is a totally absurd excuse. He was a law unto himself and a raging bully. I’m sure he got away with lots before because money speaks. How terribly frightened and vulnerable poor Reeva must have been knowing what he is capable of. Nowhere to run and no-one to help her. How can you fire at someone and they don’t call out in fear and shock? Does he claim he never heard the poor frightened darling scream from behind the door? He was right outside that door remember? Even so, let’s say the first bullet killed her- there would have been silence and therefore no reason to continue shooting at “the burglar”. If however, the first bullet didn’t kill her she would have cried out to him and he should have stopped, right? Unless of course the intent was to kill because not only did he fire once, not twice, not three times but…4 times. Isn’t that making sure the person never lives to tell the story? The other thing that begs an answer is this- If he was so shocked to discover his “accident” and wanted to perform resuscitation techniques to “rescue” her, why carry her limp body downstairs to resuscitate her? Since he’s done the whole shooting thing and everything else on “instinct” one would assume that he would perform resuscitation right there and then on “instinct”. But, no, he removes the dying woman from the crime scene to conveniently “resuscitate” her as far as possible from the crime scene. Why? What was he hoping to hide? If the judge misses these pertinent and telling points we can have no hope in the will of the South African justice to punish such crimes or the intelligence of the people who should protect us at all. RIP Reeva and may your loved ones and you get justice.