Oscar Pistorius shoots girlfriend...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21455453

How do you mistake your girlfriend for an intruder...(allegedly)

SSN reported that she'd let herself in as a valentines surprise so he didn't know she was there, dark house etc he probably shot first spoke second.

That story only works if you fire one shot....

http://www.news.com.au/sport/more-sport/oscar-pistorius-shot-killed-girlfriend-reports/story-fndukor0-1226578161509

"The deceased was shot four times and died on the scene. It is believed that she was the girlfriend of the accused,"

I remember when Kallis was calling for a return to the death penalty....I wonder if he will repeat that call in this case.

Olly wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21455453

How do you mistake your girlfriend for an intruder...(allegedly)

Was he going out with one of the Williams sisters?

stunned by this

He's been charged with murder now. This story's got legs - it'll run and run.

He shot her 4 times, there could have been 5-10 or even more seconds between shots depending on the gun, he had to have seen who he was shooting.

Guilty as a puppy sat next to a pile of Poopie

Not sure his story is leg-it

He might not have a leg to stand on if this goes to court.

Biltong wrote:He might not have a leg to stand on if this goes to court.

Makes me sick - all you lot coming out of the woodwork with leg jokes about Oscar now that he's fallen on hard times.

It's prosthetic.

Story I read said he was drunk. No hang on they said he was legless.

stunned by the news! scumbag!

What happened today was tragic, but Oscar, while he has had a few brushes with the law (drinking, the odd argument) has never ever been accused of anything this nature. Thus I will go with the innocent till proven otherwise.

Sometime last year Oscar mentioned that he once came out of his bed with his pistol as he thought there was a thief in the house. It turned out to be a false alarm, but to me that shows that Oscar is the shoot-first ask-later kind of dude. Its also worth noting that he is a 96% shooter from 300m..

Lastly I know nothing about guns (shocking for a South African, I know), but to intentionally shoot your girlfriend FOUR times is a huge leap from threatening businessmen. All it does prove is that he was shoting the target to kill.

It would be nice if there wasnt a trial-by-public before any evidence comes out.

I agree kingraf, unfortunately Oscar is apublic figure and people will be too keen to either lynch him or find him innocent.

Like you said it is a tragedy, from what I read his girlfiend wanted to surprise him for Valentie's day, imagine what went through her mind the moment before it all happened.

An innocent attmept to surprise your boyfriend has ended your life, she was only 30 years old, it may well also now ruin Oscar's life even if there is mitigating circumstances. How does one overcome the fact that you killed your own girlfriend?

The guy is a scumbag. He's got form. The Olympics then a day of journalists digging.

Life is f*cking precious. Too many nice guys get the wrong cards. Hopefully they don't let him top himself and he goes to South Africas best. Tw@t

I suppose you know him well then?

Biltong wrote:I agree kingraf, unfortunately Oscar is apublic figure and people will be too keen to either lynch him or find him innocent.

Like you said it is a tragedy, from what I read his girlfiend wanted to surprise him for Valentie's day, imagine what went through her mind the moment before it all happened.

An innocent attmept to surprise your boyfriend has ended your life, she was only 30 years old, it may well also now ruin Oscar's life even if there is mitigating circumstances. How does one overcome the fact that you killed your own girlfriend?

I can't even begin to understand how this happened. I know culture is different in South Africa, but do they really just shoot intruders without thought? I know gang culture is bad over there.

Ultimately I don't see him being found innocent. It seems pretty unlikely anybody else would be in his house at that time in the morning. Just a tragic situation for all involved.

May that poor young woman rest in piece

Olly wrote:

Biltong wrote:I agree kingraf, unfortunately Oscar is apublic figure and people will be too keen to either lynch him or find him innocent.

Like you said it is a tragedy, from what I read his girlfiend wanted to surprise him for Valentie's day, imagine what went through her mind the moment before it all happened.

An innocent attmept to surprise your boyfriend has ended your life, she was only 30 years old, it may well also now ruin Oscar's life even if there is mitigating circumstances. How does one overcome the fact that you killed your own girlfriend?

I can't even begin to understand how this happened. I know culture is different in South Africa, but do they really just shoot intruders without thought? I know gang culture is bad over there.

Ultimately I don't see him being found innocent. It seems pretty unlikely anybody else would be in his house at that time in the morning. Just a tragic situation for all involved.

May that poor young woman rest in piece

Olly I won't say South Africans are trigger happy people over here.

However the government had everyone owning a weapon reregister it and the renewal of the licences had many people just give up their guns. I personally think it was an attempt to disarm the whites.

These days to get a weapon in SA is rather difficult.

The law also states that your life must be in danger before you may shoot an intruder.

It isn't a regular occurence, but breakins in the middle of the night does occur, so from the perspective of Oscar pulling a gun and shooting is not unheard of. problem is though that speaking strictly according to the fact that your life must be in danger before you may shoot at someone might be the first instance to him being found guilty.

I do not know how he is going to explain firing four shots at his "deemed" intruder.

Silver Lakes which from what I understand is where he stays, now I have client sin the estate and have been there a few times, it is a big estate which is boomed off and safe, there are guards 24/7 so why he would feel unsafe there I don't know.

From my perspective he is in a lot of trouble, and believe me when I tell you, you don't want to go to prison in SA. It is overcrowded, gangs rule and a white boy in prison ain't going to survive.

Biltong wrote:

Olly wrote:

Biltong wrote:I agree kingraf, unfortunately Oscar is apublic figure and people will be too keen to either lynch him or find him innocent.

Like you said it is a tragedy, from what I read his girlfiend wanted to surprise him for Valentie's day, imagine what went through her mind the moment before it all happened.

An innocent attmept to surprise your boyfriend has ended your life, she was only 30 years old, it may well also now ruin Oscar's life even if there is mitigating circumstances. How does one overcome the fact that you killed your own girlfriend?

I can't even begin to understand how this happened. I know culture is different in South Africa, but do they really just shoot intruders without thought? I know gang culture is bad over there.

Ultimately I don't see him being found innocent. It seems pretty unlikely anybody else would be in his house at that time in the morning. Just a tragic situation for all involved.

May that poor young woman rest in piece

Olly I won't say South Africans are trigger happy people over here.

However the government had everyone owning a weapon reregister it and the renewal of the licences had many people just give up their guns. I personally think it was an attempt to disarm the whites.

These days to get a weapon in SA is rather difficult.

The law also states that your life must be in danger before you may shoot an intruder.

It isn't a regular occurence, but breakins in the middle of the night does occur, so from the perspective of Oscar pulling a gun and shooting is not unheard of. problem is though that speaking strictly according to the fact that your life must be in danger before you may shoot at someone might be the first instance to him being found guilty.

I do not know how he is going to explain firing four shots at his "deemed" intruder.

Silver Lakes which from what I understand is where he stays, now I have client sin the estate and have been there a few times, it is a big estate which is boomed off and safe, there are guards 24/7 so why he would feel unsafe there I don't know.

From my perspective he is in a lot of trouble, and believe me when I tell you, you don't want to go to prison in SA. It is overcrowded, gangs rule and a white boy in prison ain't going to survive.

I've seen Ross Kemp on Gangs, I have a picture of just how bad it is!

The four shots thing is what I don't understand. Also he must have been able to see the outline of the person he was shooting. What time of the day did it allegedly occur?

Apparently at 4 AM, I agree about the four shots, my wife and I was just talking about it, surely she screamed after the first shot?

There is a lot of rumours flying around in SA, can't put them on here as they are not confrmed and it could be libellous, but it doesn't look good for Oscar.

Biltong wrote:There is a lot of rumours flying around in SA, can't put them on here as they are not confrmed and it could be libellous, but it doesn't look good for Oscar.

Well we know he shot her through a door. So he maybe couldn't have seen her, but the other stuff makes it look really bad for him.

I spoke to a policeman a little earlier, he is a captain.

Not good.

Ah Bilts spill the beans man, can't you just tell the stories without naming Oscar as the person involved? .... i.e. an unnamed SA paralympic double amputee athlete is a alledged to...blah blah blah...

haha, sorry mate, can't do it. My mate and myself can get into some deep trouble

Part of me wants this to all have been a mix up and to have been a genuine mistake on Oscars part, but lets not kid ourselves here.

Firstly, as guys have said above, if it had been a case of mistaking her for an intruder you'd realise that after 1, maybe 2 shots - not 4!

Secondly, why was she trying to suprise him for Valentines day at 4am?! Who does that? That stinks of a cover up story.

And Thirdly, it wasn't Pistorius who called the police/ambulance. If its a mistake, he would've known fairly immediately and would have called the emergency services surely?

Like i say, i don't want it to be true - he was a seemingly pretty inspirational person, but i can't see how this was all a big mistake.

Anyone who think's Oscar is innocent is taking the Pistorius!

I think I'm as shocked as most people by this.

My 2 cents' worth is that the description of events to date sound like a (not very convincing) cover up.

My theory is that Oscar found out she was seeing another guy and flew into a fit of jealous rage. If nothing else, it might explain why 4 shots were fired.

Very tragic, first and foremost for Miss Steenkamp, but also that someone who was a role model and inspiration for so many people, will likely be found guilty of murder.

On the 4 shots, what kind of gun was it? If it's a double-action semi-auto he could have fired off all 4 in a row and wouldn't have heard the scream until pulling the trigger for the 4th time. He'd have to be very panicked to do so

Here's an extract from a News24 article:
"Beeld newspaper dedicated five full pages to the story, with its front page story, headlined "Dood agter deur [Dead behind door]", saying it understood Steenkamp was shot four times through a bathroom door.

According to the paper the police and security guards were called to his house about two hours before the shooting, after neighbours heard him and Steenkamp argue.

The police were called out a second time around 03:00 after neighbours heard gunshots, reported Beeld, quoting an unnamed Silver Woods estate resident."

Sounds pretty bad for Oscar...

Looks like Steroids are involved as well, not only has he now appeared to have murdered his girlfriend but if the PEDs are there too, then surely his Olympic career is tainted as well?

What I find most surprising is how hot his girlfriend was, that and he killed her of course.

Yeah all you people who jumped to the conclusion that he shot her will feel pretty stupid now....it looks like he battered her to death with a baseball bat :/

I think his running days are over.

Been following the tweets from the trial, standing by the intruder defence.

Am I the only person wondering why a burglar would break in to somebodies home and then have the courtesy to close the bathroom door behind them?

The most important point here is the fact that he allegedly shoots the "perpetrator" through a closed bathroom door.

The prosecutor will say that the perpetrator was hiding and Oscar's life was not in danger. In SA you must prove your life was in danger. How is the defence going to explain that away?

Also obviously there is a lack of witnesses. So basically it is Pistorius's word against neighbours/police/forensic evidence?

True, but how does he explain the four bullet holes in the bathroom door?

Biltong,

There may be no difference in the way the law would view it but I know I would feel differently about someone who shot a presumed burglar through a door and someone who chased his girlfriend down a corridor and deliberately shot her through the door.

Would it not be a stretch to prove premeditation in the first scenario?

Also, there seems to be an awful lot of "information" coming from people inside the enquiry. Is that usual in SA? Given you have mentioned a friend who has told you stuff it would seem likely that the scource is the police themselves.

They seem in an unseemly hurry to have Pistorius "tried" in the papers.

Hi MrsP, my thoughts are that if the prosecutor brings up the fact if shooting someone through a ckosed bathroom door there could be argued there is another reason for keeping on shooting when you know the holes in the door will prove your life was not in danger.

I am wondering if you listen to the reports that the police were called to his house earlier in the night whether this was not a "passion" act as the americans would call it.

They always the the example of a passion killing where you stab the oerson multiple times, if not you stab only a few times if necessary.

I doubt it was premeditated, but an ongoing fight between them where Oscar lost control.

The information leaks, for a few bucks from a journalist it isn't unlikely that someone from within will leak info. These guys aren't very well remunerated.

Whether the media wants to prosecute him, well you kniw whether you are the media in the UK, Australia or SA, they are all pretty much after sensation.

Weird alright. So two hours before she dies (2am) security and Cops were there because of an argument. Two hours later we're then lead to believe that shes now there for a Valentines day surprise.

Then at some point between having her skull smashed by a cricket bat and four shots from a gun (assuming he must put down one and pick up the other) he failed to realise during any of that time he wasnt being threatened by an intruder.

Then funnily enough, 'suddenly' realises its his girlfriend and reacts by ringing his mate! and in court has the only possible defence that would even remotely absolve him from any blame, given the firing of the gun, bashing of the bat will all be DNA'd, powder analysysd back to him...its an intruder...

I'm all for innocent until proven guilty as well but this has more holes in it than...well I wont say it.

But hey, thank goodness for the right to own firearms for ones defence. Wouldnt want them to fall into the wrong hands now would we.

Yeah Bilt,

Hard to know if the press here would have been allowed to publish quite so much so whether they would have been deemed to be prejudicing the enquiry. I really don't know the answer but it seemed like a lot of "information" was coming out very early and the police were commenting on it.

Different systems in operation.

I hope the forensic evidence gives a clear and true picture of what happened and that the jury reach the right decision.

A young woman was killed and that is tragedy enough no matter what exactly occured in the lead up to that terrible event.

Biltong wrote:

I am wondering if you listen to the reports that the police were called to his house earlier in the night whether this was not a "passion" act as the americans would call it.

I'm 99.9% positive this is what it was Biltong, and looking at her, and looking at his predicament, the history of callouts to their domestics, he likely had serious self esteem and insecurity issues. He may have convinced himself that she had 'done' things to upset him, and from memory his results and episodes coming from the Olympics/ Para olympics didnt exactly appease him, and she was about to be elevated to popularity via he new show, coincidentally timed for release in a few days. Theres so much fuel her for a certain type to become so insecure its compelling.

I might be wrong and know nothing about her but people just dont get smashed over the head and shot four times every day for being an intruder.

It is possible that the cricket bat damage occured while trying to batter down the door.

I hope the forensic folk can get clear answers to all that stuff.

I do realise I am clutching at straws in my efforts to play devil's advocate here.

Sadly, its looking like "Another hero, another mindless crime".

I thought the police said the cricket bat had blood all over it and that her skull was crushed? 2 and 2?

I realise Im reacting on the media reports as well but gut feel is this has jealous rage all over it, who at the time had convinced himself 100% that he was justified in doing all this, then a natural kick in of the survival instincts to stay out of prison, save face etc.

Seen it before.

We have a murder for financial reasons case in NZ that has just gone to the Privy Council. Father found guilty of bludgeoning his wife and child. Had the usuals- increase in insurance previously, money and loss of business.

This was premeditated but the similarities around whether he did it or not are there, the remorse, the court appearance and repeated denials etc.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10866020