PrimeSuspect
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Your entire reasoning seems to hinge on Mrs Stipp's 3:02AM testimonial evidence.
As you correctly stated, witnesses make mistakes… perhaps Mrs. Stipp simply made a mistake :
1. The clock indicated 3:12 but in her half asleep state she read 3:02
2. The clock indicated 3:12 but in her half asleep state followed by a traumatic event she remembered 3:02
3. It was 3:02 when she looked at the clock but then dosed off for what she believed was an instant but in fact she drifted back into a light sleep for about 10 minutes
… all these things are not only possible and reasonable explanations but also probable considering the circumstances.
Does this mean Mrs. Stipp's entire testimony becomes unreliable…. I believe it doesn't
But for sake of argument, let us say it is…
If Mrs Stipp's evidence is deemed unreliable then it should be "removed" from consideration… but you, other posters, the Defence and Masipa wish to use Mrs. Stipp's 3:02 evidence to discredit other State witnesses testimony.
That cannot logically be so… if something is deemed unreliable then it is unreliable for the State and the Defence… one cannot argue that X is unreliable to prove Y but should nevertheless be used to disprove Z.
And what about Dr. Stipp… should his testimony be deemed unreliable because one single element of his wife's testimony is deemed unreliable… I think not. But you, other posters, the Defence and Masipa wish to dismiss all of Dr. Stipp's testimony… all except the part where he says OP was tending to Reeva's body, praying and crying.
Furthermore, the ONLY witnesses that heard the 2 sets of bangs are the Stipp's… so it is quite unfair and illogical to say that ALL witnesses stood and did nothing for 15 minutes whilst a woman was screaming for her life.
In JM's judgment - Common cause facts or facts which are not disputed: The
following are common cause facts which relate to count 1 only. It is
common cause that:
- on 14 February 2013 shortly after 3 in the morning, screams were
heard from the accused’s house;
Why does she accept screaming shortly after 3am? So JM believes OP screamed for 10 minutes or more before he fired the 4 shots? How can that be true?
IMO, Mrs Stipps woke up startled by the first set of bangs which was the cricket bat against the door. I think she is correct with the 3:02, and as she stated their clock is usually 2-3 mins fast, it was in fact just on 3am.
BTW, Carisa Stander did nothing when she heard the helps and slipped when giving evidence that she worried about the lady, why would she think that unless she heard, a lady?
Edit: It's been brought up by another poster earlier why would the Stipps wait till 3:17 to call for assistance? Carisa obviously didn't want to become involved, she closed the door and went back to bed, why can't the Stipps been hesitant to become involved also? One of the two may have needed to be convinced, maybe they wanted to listen further?
JMO