Revealed: The police case against 'trigger-happy' Oscar
WERNER SWART | 18 August, 2013
The police have built a case against Oscar Pistorius and here are the highlights of this article:
1. OP is a trigger-happy gunman prone to violent outbursts.
2. OP's past boasting of being a crack shot and threats to "break people's legs" could come back to haunt him because the prosecution will now rely on former girlfriends and associates in an attempt to expose his "aggressive character".
3. The prosecution intends adding two other charges of reckless and negligent discharge of a firearm but defence intends making representations before an official decision is made to add these charges.
4. By adding more gun-related charges, the prosecution has shown its hand by adopting a strategy whereby it will home in on Pistorius's "aggressive" behaviour to try to show he was prone to violent outbursts, which, it will say, was why he killed Steenkamp.
5. That is why his past behaviour, like shooting a gun in a restaurant and boasting of being such a good shot on Twitter, will be used to show that he is a person who knows exactly how to use a firearm and not afraid to use it.
6. Ballistic tests have shown Pistorius was, in fact, on his stumps when he pumped bullets through the toilet door. The prosecution had earlier argued that he put on his prosthetic legs before walking to the bathroom, where he fired the shots - the inference being that he had more than enough time to check whether his girlfriend was still in bed with him.
7. Professor Stephen Tuson, a criminal law expert at the University of the Witwatersrand, said even if it was shown Pistorius was telling the truth about being on his stumps, he still had serious questions to answer because he shot through a door unsighted, thinking there was a person behind it. He says he walked back to the bed on his stumps and shouted to Reeva to call the police but at this time she could have been screaming in pain. He said the defence strategy that Pistorius would have felt more vulnerable than an able-bodied person could work in his favour. The defence will definitely argue for the court to lower the bar for Oscar to show his actions were reasonable for a person with a disability and that such a person would feel more vulnerable than an able-bodied person and react differently when their life is in danger.
8. It is understood that police are still waiting for experts to unlock Pistorius's iPhone 5, found on the scene. The phone's password is needed to access deleted items. A police source said:
"Three times now Oscar has claimed he can't remember the password. We are just waiting for Apple computer experts to unlock it for us.
We think there may be something interesting on this phone."
9. The witness list has
more than 100 names, including:
a) Hilton Botha
b) State pathologist Dr Gert Saayman
c) Former soccer player Marc Batchelor who is expected to testify about an altercation between him and Pistorius during which the athlete threatened to "break his legs"
d) Samantha Taylor will be called by the prosecution and her testimony could bolster the state's case of a "trigger-happy" Pistorius.
10. Earlier speculation claimed Pistorius and Steenkamp were involved in a love triangle with Springbok Francois Hougaard, whom she dated before her romance with Pistorius but
his name is not on the witness list.
11. The police docket will be scrutinised by the Defence team of experts:
a) forensic pathologist Dr Reggie Perumal
b) ballistic expert Tom "Wollie" Wolmarans
c) Jannie van der Westhuizen, an expert in the field of blood spatter
http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2013/08/18/revealed-the-police-case-against-trigger-happy-oscar1
