That's a good example of the weak UK laws with such a possible sentence. I've seen murderers here get just a few years much less 25.
Well, I don't think this was necessarily a premediated murder. I think he's a hothead and lost it. But hopefully the facts will win out irregardless.
Prosecutors say his account is undermined by the physical and witness evidence:
- Two iPhones were found in the bathroom, which seems strange if Reeva was there just to use the toilet, as Pistorius contends.
- Five neighbors reportedly heard arguing and screaming in addition to gunfire. "If people say, 'We heard gunshot, a scream, gunshot, a scream,' you know it's going to be pretty much hard for you to argue that you still didn't know that the person who was screaming was your girlfriend," Mncube said.
- A prosecution report obtained by South African broadcaster ENCA says the trajectory and grouping of the shots fired "indicate a direct intention to kill" — although they also support Oscar's contention that he was not wearing his prosthetics when he went to the bathroom door.
- After he shot Steenkamp, Pistorius' first call was not to the police. "I don't think it's in dispute that he phoned his friend, and the friends were the first on the scene," Mncube said.
- A security guard phoned Pistorius after the shooting to see if everything was OK, and he told them "Fine," according to the leaked prosecution document.
Prosecutors have not disclosed a motive for the alleged murder, but one of their witnesses may testify that Pistorius had a temper. Soccer star Marc Batchelor says Pistorius threatened to break his legs in a fury over his belief that Batchelor's friend, producer Quinton Van Der Burgh, had slept with his ex-girlfriend.
Batchelor also says Steenkamp's friends believed Pistorius was trying to find out if she had been in contact with her ex-boyfriend, Warren Lahoud. Just 36 hours before she was shot, she met Lahoud for coffee.
"She told me how well she was doing," Lahoud later said. "She seemed happy."
[h=1]Oscar Pistorius trial to begin next week[/h]TODAY
It's not known if Pistorius will testify in his own defense at the trial, parts of which will be televised. But South African journalist Karyn Maughan said his legal team is crafting a novel interpretation of the country's self-defense law, which is based on how a "reasonable" person would react to danger.
He will try to convince a judge that "he can't be charged according to the standards of the reasonable man," Maughan told "Dateline."
"You need to judge him as the reasonable paraplegic, and you need to take into account that this is a person who has persistently said that he's felt the most vulnerable on his stumps and was living, essentially, in a state of fear, in a state of terror.
"And you need to judge him by that standard."
DYLAN MARTINEZ / REUTERS, FILE
Oscar Pistorius starts his men's 400m round 1 heats at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
First published February 28th 2014, 4:31 am
[h=1]TRACY CONNOR[/h]
Tracy Connor is a senior writer for NBC News. She started this role in December, 2012. Connor is responsible...
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