Trial Discussion Thread #47 - 14.07.8, Day 38

N: ask that we file the heads with your registrar, not the registrar of court..

Judge: it's very concerning, what you just said. But people do leak documents. It's theft.

Judge grants order. No publication of heads of argu in any form until argument commences in court.

Postponed until Aug 7th.

That's All Folks. Court goes dark until mid August.

Judge Masipa talking about the Channel 7 report or the prepublication of the heads of argument?: “I know it has happened in the past. It’s theft in fact.
Whoever uses is it not only doing a disservice to justice. But is also a thief.”

Who wants to bet that the Heads of Arguments will be leaked before August 7?

That's it until August 7th.!

Defence closes, state will not reopen case and nothing more till final arguments!

That was a bit of a letdown.. not sure what I'll do until August 7th... lol

The judge said quite clearly what she thought of 'leaked' information calling it theft. I realise she was talking about court documents being leaked but if that's her thinking, she may have seen the re-enactment video the same way so Nel was wise not to try and introduce it.

Postponed for a month...I don't get it :sigh:

“Running Scared” (Part 1)

The crux of the case was what was going on in OP’s head when he shot RS. Did he intend to kill her. Scott Roder, forensics expert, spent weeks interviewing OP and he believes he has the answers to prove he’s innocent.

The case for the Defence:

Scott Roder recreates crime scenes animation. Last September OP’s uncle (Arnold) invited Roder to South Africa to meet OP to forensically examine OP’s version of events from the moment RS turned up for Valentine’s Day dinner. When OP arrived home, Reeva was preparing dinner. He went upstairs and placed his gun under the bed. (The gun was not in a holster. It was in a black box/drawer together with 2 watches, a set of keys and a remote).

OP in court: When I grew up we were exposed to crime and many of my family have been victims of house break-ins and violent crime. (We’ve heard no evidence of this).

The events prior to 10.00pm are told. “At about 10pm they both went to sleep” but the prosecution shows that the autopsy showed she must have eaten much earlier than 10.00, possibly 1.00am. That raises doubt about OP’s story. OP says the balcony doors and the two fans were in the doorway blowing cold air into the room. OP says he’s a light sleeper and he woke up about 2.00am.”

I = Interviewer
SR = Scott Roder (forensic specialist)

SR: As you can hear, the fans are quite loud and when I was doing the reconstruction of the scene I had both of these exact fans. It’s quite loud and quite distracting so at this particular time, either while he was repositioning the fans or while he was closing the sliding doors, Reeva gets up to go to the toilet.
I: Crucially Oscar says he didn’t hear her getting up. But just how credible is it that Oscar didn’t hear Reeva get off the bed and go into the bathroom?
SR: It’s absolutely crucial to his defence because if the judge finds otherwise, if she believes that Oscar was aware that Reeva got up from the bed and went to the bathroom, then he’s guilty of murder. What Oscar says happened is that after he closed the curtains, the room was dark except for this LED light on his stereo which he then covered with a pair of Reeva’s jeans. (He testified that he was going to cover the light. It was not covered. The animation shows the tripod fan in the corner of the room on the left-hand side of the stereo cabinet not in front of the sliding door).

SR: He hears a loud screech and a bang. (This is new).
I: And what did Oscar tell you he thought at that moment?
SR: At that moment he immediately thought there was an intruder coming into his house through the bathroom window.
I: Where is Reeva at this stage?
SR: Reeva’s in the toilet.

SR believes the noise was Reeva opening the bathroom window and that’s what Oscar hears.
SR: ... He thinks Reeva is still here in the bed. He says he leans down beside the bed, grabs his loaded pistol.

“Running Scared” (Part 2)

I = Interviewer
SR = Scott Roder (forensic specialist)
OP = Oscar Pistorius

(ui) = Unintelligible (mainly due to OP’s accent)

At his uncle’s home some months later:

OP: I was like this (arm outstretched with imaginary gun) against the cupboard and then I came around the wall and then when I could get in far enough I had a look. I looked around the corner like this and I knew that the (ui) the door. I presumed that the person was inside the toilet.
I: Why would he think that?
SR: Well there was a lot of construction being done on his house. There were large ladders right beneath the bathroom window that were certainly long enough to reach that bathroom window.

OP in court: I wasn’t sure if someone was going to come up the ladder and point a firearm in my house and start shooting. So I just stayed where I was and I kept screaming (“Reeva, Reeva, call the police&#8221.

SR: You never really had your shoulder or your back against the wall?
OP: Yeah, I did and I’m (ui) certain when I came into the bathroom I wanted to get as far away from this wall in case the person was, like, right here. So I came right up against the wall here, and then I could lean, look forward ... I didn’t want to start walking around this corner because I knew that if I had to be in contact, close proximity with someone without my prosthetic legs on, I wouldn’t be able to defend myself.

SR: You can see that this is somebody who’s at a tremendous disadvantage. He’s got bad balance when he’s on his stumps. He could be easily overcome at that particular point.
I: So what should we be listening for that prompted him to fire?
SR: There’s a magazine rack that’s inside the toilet chamber. It’s a ceramic floor, so as it’s being moved just a matter of a foot, it makes a screeching noise. (OP testified it was the sound of wood moving. He later said in retrospect that it was probably the magazine rack moving)
I: So Reeva’s in the toilet. Oscar’s yelling, thinking Reeva’s in the bedroom?
SR: Right.
I: What do you think Reeva’s thinking at this stage?
SR: I think that’s an important issue in the case and I think it’s reasonable to believe that as Oscar’s moving towards this perceived threat, she’s locking herself in the toilet thinking that the threat’s moving toward her. Oscar’s coming closer. His voice is getting louder and more aggressive. (Animation shows Reeva cowering behind the back of the toilet) So she believes, I would think, that the threat is now coming towards her and she’s moving that magazine rack to take further cover behind the toilet.
I: So you believe it was the moving magazine rack and the noise that that makes that triggered Oscar to fire?
SR: Yeah.

3.12am Four shots are fired
3.19am OP called a neighbour
3.20am OP phoned for an ambulance

That was quick. Well, at least I get to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm sure I'll be dreaming of delicious smelling buttered raisin bread.............

See you guys on the 7th !!

“Running Scared” (Part 3)

I = Interviewer
SR = Scott Roder (forensic specialist)
OP = Oscar Pistorius

SR: At that particular point he stays there at that corridor entrance to the bathroom for several seconds, shouting, crying for Reeva to call the police, get help, call the police, and hears nothing. So he retreats back, walking backwards down the corridor, keeping his gun sighted toward the toilet, not knowing if there’s another intruder coming out. (Video of OP walking backwards. He touched the floor twice for balance).

OP: I was walking like this, back to the bed.
SR: And what did you do then?
OP: Then I got to the bed and I lifted myself up onto the bed like this and I sat on it. And I was feeling for Reeva and I couldn’t feel her next to me. I kind of lay down and I felt back a bit on the bed and I had my arm out the whole time.

SR: He climbs backwards across the bed, patting the bed to see if Reeva’s there. She’s not there.
I: If you’re right, that’s the moment that he realises that Reeva’s not in the bedroom.

OP in Court: I felt if Reeva was there (in bed). I couldn’t feel anything and at that point the first thing I thought was maybe that she got down onto the floor like I told her to. Maybe she was just scared. (No mention of feeling behind curtains) I think it was at that point My Lady that it first dawned upon me that Reeva that could be in the bathroom or in the toilet.

OP then says he got off the bed, on his stumps, and rushed back to the bathroom.
SR: So when you were walking toward us just now, was that as fast as you can walk without your prostheses?
OP: That is probably the fastest speed that I’d be able to go.
(Video show OP “running” with his arm outstretched with an imaginary gun. His gait looks like that of a marathon walker, especially the hip movement. During one of these demonstrations OP walks forward, turns and then returns. This was interesting because I didn’t see him having any problems turning around. Derman said it took (?) 7 movements but I only noticed 3]

SR: Now he’s really panicked. So he turns the light on, he realises the door is locked and the key must be on the inside. The following came up on the screen: Oscar ran to the door and shoulder-charged it to no effect.

So he goes out onto the balcony and yells for help

I: Neighbours say they heard a woman screaming.
SR: Yes.
I: Is that what you believe they heard?

SR: I believe that is what they heard.
I: Oscar screaming?
SR: Yeah, absolutely. I mean and that’s a natural thing. I mean when you’re screaming at an intruder, you’re going to use the deepest, most angry, most threatening voice that you can, but then he realised “Oh my God, it’s Reeva”. And so now he’s panicked and at that point, when you’re panicked, you scream and you scream and you scream. I believe that that is what the neighbours heard. (His voice was deep? Reeva’s voice certainly wasn’t deep, and neighbours said the woman’s voice was blood-curdling, not angry or threatening)

I: Oscar says he then returned to the bedroom and put on his prosthetic limbs as quickly as he could. (Animation took 25.61 seconds and that was with socks) OP says he picked up a cricket bat and then returned to the bathroom to break the toilet door down. A number of witnesses, as many as 4, claim that they heard arguing and shouting and screaming before the gunshots, a pause and then they hear more gunshots. It’s really crucial.
SR: Absolutely that’s crucial. That second set of gunshots I believe was the sound of the cricket bat breaking down the door. Now I did a test on that.

(This test was conducted during broad daylight in a field surrounded by leafless trees – obviously winter. The ground had huge piles of leaves next to where the shots were fired)

SR: I hit it with a cricket bat-type instrument (a piece of wood) in an attempt to replicate that sound. And then I used that same door and the same model gun with the same type ammunition that Oscar used and I shot through that door, and I compared those audio sounds and this is what I got. (The sound recordings of the bat and gun were replayed indoors. The gunshots were much louder)

SR: And from a distance of 20m, 40m, 100m, 300m – some witnesses were 500m, some witnesses were – the differentiation between those 2 sounds, it’s going to be very difficult to determine.
I: So you believe the witnesses who say that they heard gunshots after screaming?
SR: That was really the cricket bat.

OP in Court: I unlocked the door, I flung the door open, I threw it open and I sat over Reeva and I cried. I don’t know how long I was there for. She wasn’t breathing.
(We’ve been over this many times, but Gert Saayman said she would have only taken a couple of breaths. For me his version is 100% impossible. After the shooting he went back to the bedroom and retrieved the bat, broke the door, unlocked it and sat down and cried – he didn’t know how long for. He couldn’t unlock her phone so returned to the bedroom to get his. He made the telephone calls, put on his prostheses, went downstairs and opened the front door, returned upstairs and manoeuvred her out of the toilet and bathroom. She must have died long before he got her to the foot of the stairs. The first paramedic on the scene was told by OP that she stopped breathing 3 minutes before the ambulance arrived and that she died in his arms)I: Clearly you think there’s enough doubt to acquit?
SR: Oh, absolutely. The physical evidence is consistent. His story has unchanged. (Ummmmm, how many times, how many defences?) If you look at the evidence Oscar’s quite clearly not guilty.
I: Do you think he loved RS?
SR: I know he did. He had pictures of Reeva all over the place, candles and some sort of shrine (paraphrased) where he would remember her and reflect.

“Running Scared” (Part 4)

I = Interviewer
SR = Scott Roder (forensic specialist)
IL = Ian Levitt (SA senior criminal lawyer)

Case for the Prosecution

The defence to date has based their version on what OP said happened that night, i.e. shots followed by the cricket bat.

OP demonstrates how Reeva was sitting on the floor (not the magazine rack) on the right-hand side of the toilet with her right arm, from her armpit to half way between the elbow and wrist straight across the middle of the toilet. Her head was resting on the top of her arm.

Months later at his uncle’s home he demonstrates how he moved Reeva from the toilet to the foot of the stairs. His sister Aimee was used in this demonstration. He knelt on his left knee, right leg over Reeva and raised her left arm up and around his neck. He then sat down and moved backwards into the bathroom, picked her up and carried her downstairs. (You can’t see either arm in the video. He places one foot on the next step down and only then moves his other foot down. He shows no difficulty in doing this and Aimee looks very much heavier than Reeva. A crime scene photo of Reeva’s body is shown. There’s a huge amount of blood in the area of her right hip)

I: Do you think he intended to harm her?
IL: I think he intended to kill her. Four bullets through the door, with that special type of ammunition or not, you’re going to kill somebody.
I: Is he a murderer?
IL: He’s a murderer. Absolutely. What happened was that they had a fight, that he was in some sort of rage, that he wanted her out of the house, that he followed her to the bathroom. She locked herself in the bathroom and in a rage he killed her. There was telling evidence given by OP himself when Nel said “What did you say to the intruder and he said, “Get the f...ck our of the house”. I think he said it to her. He ran to the bathroom, he was in a rage and he killed her. Then you must wonder why he shouts to her twice. He’s screaming at the burglar, the so-called burglar “Get out” and without her answering or making a noise even once (when Nel asked OP if Reeva screamed, he took 31 seconds before he answered!!!), he still pumps 4 bullets into the door and he rationally does this ... with somebody that he wants to have a future with, possibly his future wife, and he’s screaming “Get out. Get out. Get the F..ck out of my house. Call the police”. And You’re not wondering why your future wife is not answering and you’re still prepared to pump 4 bullets into the door. I don’t buy it.
I: How could he suddenly turn from wanting to kill the woman that he says he loved to being remorseful and wanting to save her?
IL: They say he was remorseful. Why, because Reeva was dead or because his life, as he saw it, was over? Of course he’d feel remorseful. That’s why I believe he’s remorseful.
I: So it’s more about himself than Reeva?
IL: I believe so.

The judge will also take a month or two before coming up with a verdict so this could now roll in to October/November.

ON whoop whoop David O'Sullivan says there is most certainly a presumption of guilt on the three gun charges.

He thinks there has been nothing from the defense to defend or even explain those charges.

Pistorius has only concentrated solely on the murder charges, on the other three counts he will be found guilty for all.

It could happen. Nel seemed to be thinking they were usually left with the court registrar and wanted them left with judge's, but she said that's always the case anyway. But there are so many reasons and people who might want to leak them, I wouldn't be surprised if something gets out.

Debora Patta ‏@Debora_Patta 36s
#OscarTrial Closing arguments set down for 7/8 August. I expect a verdict within two weeks after that

I just know that after following this whole damn circus since the beginning the verdict is going to be announced while i'm on holiday between 12th-19th august , grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Apparently journos were all told this morning they were banned from court? But then were allowed in? Can anyone confirm that?

Darn it. Finally carved out time to follow along with WS and the trial...and it's over!!

After all the speculation from court journalists, it's actually a relief it's only 4 weeks until the final arguments on August 7/8.

Many were saying up it could take up to six weeks (or more ). Wonder if we'll another 'leak'...