No, more to do with invesigating of witnesses who were 200m away from the apartment who claim to have heard arguing..
No forensic stuff as of yet.
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Oscar Pistorius - Paralypic Gold Medalist, Shoots and Kills Girlfriend
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No, more to do with invesigating of witnesses who were 200m away from the apartment who claim to have heard arguing..
No forensic stuff as of yet.
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Yeah, that was witness 1 and 3 of the State. Got a real grilling too...
Totally agree with this, I personally think he's guilty but I'm not convinced he's gonna be found guilty! Will certainly be interesting to see what the forensic evidence shows and how much of it's viable
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Indeed, Paddy Power have him at 4/6 to get off!
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I think that testimony was a bit of a double edged sword. While Oscar might be seen as irresponsible around guns, it also showed that he didn't have intent, and that he was very apologetic about what happened. What is interesting to me is that Lerena didn't actually see the gun go off... Everything happened under the table. So again it's circumstantial.
Oscar's Advocate, Mr. Barry Roux SC, has said in his opening speech, that most of the evidence the state will give, will be circumstantial, so if they are going to use that only, Oscar will be found not guilty.
Mr. Roux only has to only prove that there are reasonable doubt. And so far, he has done a stellar job.
Been following it very closely...theme thus far is this...
Pistorius comes across as a character on edge...has a gun close to his bed, always alert, on constant look out. Quite likely his disability makes him feel more vulnerable. Although that ex of his today painted him as wreckless, she actually said something that went in his favour...that he has woken her, numerous times, thinking there was intruders in the house. This would back up his story of what happened to Steenkamp (albeit he never woke her up...but as he claims, he closed the window and then got the gun..therefore wasn't in the bed to wake her up). If this is what happened..then it's manslaughter (unintentional killing). But this case is either he murdered her or not? Ridiculous if so. He's guilty of either unintentional or intentional killing and should serve a heavy sentence which ever. And why there is no jury system is beyond me. Another thing I can't fathom is why family (Reevas mother) are giving interviews while the case is going on. Hunch is he will get off scot free.
Pistorius comes across as a character on edge...has a gun close to his bed, always alert, on constant look out. Quite likely his disability makes him feel more vulnerable. Although that ex of his today painted him as wreckless, she actually said something that went in his favour...that he has woken her, numerous times, thinking there was intruders in the house. This would back up his story of what happened to Steenkamp (albeit he never woke her up...but as he claims, he closed the window and then got the gun..therefore wasn't in the bed to wake her up). If this is what happened..then it's manslaughter (unintentional killing). But this case is either he murdered her or not? Ridiculous if so. He's guilty of either unintentional or intentional killing and should serve a heavy sentence which ever. And why there is no jury system is beyond me. Another thing I can't fathom is why family (Reevas mother) are giving interviews while the case is going on. Hunch is he will get off scot free.
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So the defence have closed their case this morning in the court and final arguments will be heard on the 7th of August 2014.
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Well, that depends entirely on the Judge. it could be 2 days, or it could be 5 months... we won't know until it happens.
After final arguments, the judge will set a date for a verdict, and if she by that time has not yet come to a conclusion, she can postpone it.
My guess is around December/January.
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I can't see that happening. We don't work like the USA. If he gets cleared for 1st degree murder he can still be found guilty of manslaughter. Only reason he could get off is if it were deemed self defense which it couldn't possibly be since his whole argument is he couldn't see **** and shooting blindly at someone on the other side of a door would not be considered self defense in SA as far as I am aware.
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He didn't use the self-defence version. And in his affidavit he had a form of admission of guilt but said it was a mistake. Also under cross-examination, he said numerous times it was a mistake. So this basically sums up that he admits that he was negligent in his actions, and then his defence used medical doctors and scientists to show his vulnerability and how it affects him. The term used as "fight or flight" was often used.
My opinion is that he will be found guilty on culpable homicide/manslaughter. Then it's just a matter of his sentencing, he'll probably get a suspended sentence of 5 years, and would most probably not get any jailtime.
The prosecutor needs to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Oscar intended to kill Reeva on purpose and that it was pre-meditated. The Defence just needs to prove by 1% that he didn't... So I think he won't be found guilty on murder.
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So the Judge is busy delivering her verdict.
There's a lot of documents to go through so she'll either finish late today or tomorrow.
So far the State has been dealt 2 blows, where 2 witnesses evidence has been dismissed in its entirety.
There's a lot of documents to go through so she'll either finish late today or tomorrow.
So far the State has been dealt 2 blows, where 2 witnesses evidence has been dismissed in its entirety.
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Guys. In South African jurisprudence is there such a thing as "negligent homicide"?
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negligent_homicide
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negligent_homicide
SelimNiai
'Ark at ee mun!
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I think its called "culpable homicide" but I'd rather not be quoted on that. Our equiv. is Manslaughter I think
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Yup, it's called manslaughter.
In my criminal law handbook they refer to it sometimes as Negligent Homicide.
But we mainly call it manslaughter.
In my criminal law handbook they refer to it sometimes as Negligent Homicide.
But we mainly call it manslaughter.
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Nope.
In South Africa there is no prescribed form and ways to deal with Pre-meditated murder. In SA, it's just classed as murder, with aggrevated circumstances.
Judge just stated that the shooting of the person behind the door is seen as an error in personam (which means Oscar mistaken the identity of the person behind the door) and that it doesn't coincide with dolus eventualis (which means that you shoot at an object like a door or window, with bearing in mind that there could be a person or thing such as an animal behind the door but not visible to you, you make the decision to shoot anyway and made peace that the shot could hit the person or thing behind the door.
To me the Judge has basically ruled out Premeditated murder. And will now focus on Manslaugher vs. Murder. Which IMHO is already a small victory for Oscar.
My personal thoughts are that the judge will find him guilty on Manslaughter.
