Sentencing under way, and one thing that hits me, the prosecution lawyer is terrible, he really is. I'm no expert, but I wonder if this trial would have gone differently had the lawyers been reversed.
this is looking like it could pan out to be one of the worst miscarriages of justice you could expect to see. an innocent life just snuffed out, and not a single day served in jail. he will go on to resume his career, sell books, go on talk shows, probably sell the film rights. this must feel like a living nightmare, to the steenkamp family.
if the gun-toting maniac has even a shred of human dignity, he'll retire from public life, and spare the steenkamp family from reliving this hell, every day for the rest of their lives.
He literally is going to get away with murder. If this was a normal skint gadger on the street he would already doing a 50 stretch. Oscar himself has also put in a cracking performance though
Her family should get a substantial % of all future earnings (like, 50%+). It won't bring their daughter back, but it's better than nothing. Her mother is also planning on bringing out a book, so I hope that sells well. Jail time will not bring their daughter back, either. Sure they get 'justice' but do they really? He's not going to reoffend, it's not that type of case, the only thing that jail time will do is act as a deterrent to others, but should he get no jail time, and anyone looks at that as "I won't either" is stupid, defence lawyers will cite the case, sure, but they won't get anywhere, unless it's exact circumstances. Eg. Disability etc. I don't think theyll send him to jail, it's just been said as a recommendation that there are no hand rails in jail showers, so he couldn't shower on his stumps, but let's be honest, hand rails are the least of his worries in the showers.
And I think not allowing him to own guns is a definite. If they don't ban him from guns, there's something wrong.
You also missed rich and famous I cant agree with your comment Of course he should get jail time - he has taken a life - at best by being negligent with a gun there has to be serious consequences the fact he wont do it again is almost irrelevant. and its also open to debate who is to say that a future girlfriend might not get shot by accident as well
Course he should be sent to jail for the very word that seems to be forgotten in this country too 'punishment'. Yes its about rehabilitation too but he needs to be punished first and foremost.
It won't be long before her family have to say sorry to Pistorious for their daughter making a mess on his bathroom floor when he shot her.
I think he is supposed to be one of the top prosecutors , given that we don't see trials in televised in this country we can't really compare him to what we've got but he does come across as a bit aggressive. I think the verdict was right one the prosecution didn't really come up with any evidence to refute Pistorius's version of events on the night and he more or less stuck to the explanation he gave straight after the shooting. The prosecution case was basically to show Pistorius's as a tw@t and hope the Judge ignored the lack of evidence of a premeditated act.
AS punishment, you get sent to gaol as punishment, not FOR punishment. Irrespective of who he believed was behind that door he shot to kill, that seems to have been glossed over, the trial seems to have been about whether he meant to kill his girlfriend not that he deliberately shot through the door to kill the person who was in the bathroom. Still, a rich, famous white guy gets away with murder in South Africa - who'd have guessed?
I feel the moment it was going to be a media circus determined the outcome - it is ridiculous that this has been such an open case for media coverage. The man has shown he is reckless with his gun and how can you not know whether somebody is in bed with you when woken in the night? Ridiculous excuses for what he did that night but, as said, I feel the lack of a jury will sway this.
The fact is, and the point I was making, the prosecution never put forward an argument good enough. That's what this comes down to, the prosecution had to prove that he meant to kill her, and they just didn't.
The fact is he killed her. He shot through that door, knowing there was someone on the other side. Given the size of that toilet, he knew there was a very good chance he would kill the other person on the other side of it. He killed her. To walk without serving a single day in jail, is a sickening embarrassment to the justice system.
Putting aside the argument of whether it was murder or not, the verdict was basically that it was an accident, as such, you're not going to get sent down for 20 years for accidently killing someone anywhere.
