Theory Thread - What happened at Pistorius' house on the night of Feb. 13, 2013?

[crasshopper]

Nel has said several times that the State version is that shots were at time of second bangs heard by Stipps just after 3:17
(3:17 Bangs have to be accounted for as shots or Cricket bat, or some other source of bangs)

OP was on phone 3:19

State expert testified to absolute certainty that Cricket bat was AFTER shots.

There were bangs at 3:00 -3:10 that sounded like gunshots... these bangs have to be accounted for. If You go with State theory that the gunshots were at 3:17, and since cricket bat was after that (but not heard), you have to account for bangs at 3:00 (ish)


Just a few hard FACTS that have to be accounted for in ANY version.... else the version is disproved.

Actually these are not FACTS, they are evidence from testimony and cannot be proved.

 

[Tooby]

I don't see it as lashing out or arrogant. It's just a fact that he knows what happened and Nel doesn''t. He didn't do that because he's humble. I didn't notice anything fake about his crying. He has grown up with a disability. Peoeple with disabilities are naturally more sensitive than others.

"Humble" isn't a word I'd use to describe the Pistorius personality.

This is a young "Alpha Male" who stands 4 & half foot high! He just doesn't measure up to other men ... women even ... and I believe this is what pushed him to compete with able-bodied athletes ... he had a deep desire or drive to prove he was just as good ... or better... than other 'full' men!!

And that explains OPs personality. His temper stems from the hand life had dealt him, his arrogance from his monied lifestyle, he's that rich, spoilt brat who has an ugly streak within him. He doesn't obey law and he'll even shout at policemen at the side of the road.

He had a team of lawyers take apart the athletics rules and find a technicality that allowed him to run against able-bodied athletes and it doesn't take a genius to see how the blades would give him an advantage. But that is the spoilt rich brat getting his way and competeing againsst them when he had the advantage. In my simple terms, he cheated.

Without his running against the able, we would never have heard of this para-olympian. The whole 'Blade Runner' thing is a PR construct and he's lived off the adverts ever since.

And contrary to your words that he's accepted responsibility for his actions, etc. No he hasn't! He called it an 'accident' and chose his words very carefully.

Reevas continued friendship with a 'full' rugby player ... a full man would (did) strike deep into OPs insecurities. Here was a man he could never be... ever. When divested of his legs he's shoulder-high to a woman. The murderous rage is mixed up within the above and it would only take a mis-placed giggle, condescening or pitious look to set his jealous insecurity off.

p.s. I believe his first instinct was to try to disappear the body.

 

[Tooby]

My version:

They argue all night in phases. At some point he does something to scare her, maybe firing the air-rifle thru the door? Maybe he played russian roulette with an empty pistol against the back of her head when she was unaware? Maybe it was an air-pellet through the door that just missed her ear? Maybe he picked up a bat or knife as they argued? Whatever, he does something outlandish that scares her. She has heard him previously speak or joke of the of how he goes SAS-tactical on hearing noises in his home. She's heard other stories that couldn't be spoken of in court, of his temper, how he's above the law, etc. I don't believe she's a shrinking violet regards arguing and that she gives as good as she gets as do most women in relationships, but he scares her so she flees to the bathroom and locks door clutching clothes. Maybe she has the mobile phones? maybe not?

Version 1: He needs to silence her as he may have done the very bad deed and if she repeats it to friends the next day she, his actions will spoil his reputation and any future sponsorship prospects. Whatever he did, it was something that would make him look bad to women.

Version 2: is the murderous rage due to his jealous insecurities. A full-bodied rugby player is texting and communicating to HIS girlfriend, that may have been enough to set him off. As further incentive, I believe it was their courtship that give her carear a push into the TV show? Maybe she couldn't see a future together and was threatening to move on from him and he now felt 'used'. In his mind he sees HIS Reeva in bed with a muscle-bound man ... "If I can't have her, no-one will".

Either way, he then approaches the bathroom "Get the Fxxx out of my house" speaks for itself. He's trying to cow her, to control her. He uses the bat on the bath panel to immitate a gunshot to scare her but it makes her worse and she starts the screaming ... maybe out of the window. He imagines woken neighbours in dressing gowns, police cars, newspapers and his ruined reputation. He needs to silence her and the 'intruder scenario' springs to mind, he starts shouting "Help, help, help". She realises what he's doing and her screams become primal.

The jeans are outside as she either tried to summon help by waving them or threw them out first planning to follow them herself. The vest is on back-to-front as she dressed in a hurry.

Oscar was wearing his legs as they hadn't been to bed (to sleep). The 'bringing the fans in' story was invented to give him a logical reason for putting them on. Otherwise, he's in bed wearing his legs when the intruder woke him.

The breaking down of the bathroom door is an odd one. Just as odd is the steel access panel on the bath that was heavily dented. Why do that? There was also damage to the bedroom door on the same face as the lock/catch.

His choice of website visits that night? *advertiser censored* to belittle and anger her, the car pages to show her what he WON'T be buying her. His shouts for help could also be attempts at him taunting her by mimicry.

 

[Suthrnqt]

My version:

They argue all night in phases. At some point he does something to scare her, maybe firing the air-rifle thru the door? Maybe he played russian roulette with an empty pistol against the back of her head when she was unaware? Maybe it was an air-pellet through the door that just missed her ear? Maybe he picked up a bat or knife as they argued? Whatever, he does something outlandish that scares her. She has heard him previously speak or joke of the of how he goes SAS-tactical on hearing noises in his home. She's heard other stories that couldn't be spoken of in court, of his temper, how he's above the law, etc. I don't believe she's a shrinking violet regards arguing and that she gives as good as she gets as do most women in relationships, but he scares her so she flees to the bathroom and locks door clutching clothes. Maybe she has the mobile phones? maybe not?

Version 1: He needs to silence her as he may have done the very bad deed and if she repeats it to friends the next day she, his actions will spoil his reputation and any future sponsorship prospects. Whatever he did, it was something that would make him look bad to women.

Version 2: is the murderous rage due to his jealous insecurities. A full-bodied rugby player is texting and communicating to HIS girlfriend, that may have been enough to set him off. As further incentive, I believe it was their courtship that give her carear a push into the TV show? Maybe she couldn't see a future together and was threatening to move on from him and he now felt 'used'. In his mind he sees HIS Reeva in bed with a muscle-bound man ... "If I can't have her, no-one will".

Either way, he then approaches the bathroom "Get the Fxxx out of my house" speaks for itself. He's trying to cow her, to control her. He uses the bat on the bath panel to immitate a gunshot to scare her but it makes her worse and she starts the screaming ... maybe out of the window. He imagines woken neighbours in dressing gowns, police cars, newspapers and his ruined reputation. He needs to silence her and the 'intruder scenario' springs to mind, he starts shouting "Help, help, help". She realises what he's doing and her screams become primal.

The jeans are outside as she either tried to summon help by waving them or threw them out first planning to follow them herself. The vest is on back-to-front as she dressed in a hurry.

Oscar was wearing his legs as they hadn't been to bed (to sleep). The 'bringing the fans in' story was invented to give him a logical reason for putting them on. Otherwise, he's in bed wearing his legs when the intruder woke him.

The breaking down of the bathroom door is an odd one. Just as odd is the steel access panel on the bath that was heavily dented. Why do that? There was also damage to the bedroom door on the same face as the lock/catch.

His choice of website visits that night? *advertiser censored* to belittle and anger her, the car pages to show her what he WON'T be buying her. His shouts for help could also be attempts at him taunting her by mimicry.

I like the way you think.

 

[liesbeth]

They argue.
Mrs. van der Merwe hears a woman arguing at around 02:00.

Reeva locks herself in the toilet.

Oscar gets the bat on his way to the bathroom.
Vermeulen testifies that OP used the bat while on his stumps.

Oscar hits the door and makes a hole/holes in the wood in the process. Willow wood on a Meranti door a la Roux?
Both Stipps hear the first set of sounds shortly after 03:02 (give or take 3-4 minutes)
Both Stipps look out and see the bathroom light on.
Guard reports gunshots to Baba shortly after 03:00

Oscar goes to the bedroom.
He puts on his legs.
He gets the gun.
He goes back to the bathroom.

And during this...
Witnesses hear terrified screams.
Witnesses hear both a man and woman's voices at the same time.
Witnesses hear a woman and man yell "help, help, help."
Roux mentions that Dr. Johnson's notes mentions a woman screaming at 03:12.
Witnesses hear the intensity and blood curdling fear in the screams escalate.

Also during this the following calls were documented:
03:15:51 to 03:16:07 Stipp calls security - 16 seconds
03:16:00 to 03:16:58 Johnson calls their security - 58 seconds
03:16:15 to 03:16:2? Neighbor didn't get through (Nhlengthwa)
03:16:36 to 03:17:20 Nhlengthwa called security - 44 seconds *(Reports just one set of shots?)

Oscar shoots Reeva through the door. *(The second shots must have happened after the 03:17:20 call?)

Witnesses hear the second set of sounds.
Witnesses hear the screaming stop.

Mangena testifies first shot to the hip. She falls.
Second bullet hits wall, ricochets against two walls and hits Reeva on back.
Third shot through arm and fragments hit her chest.
Mangena: Reeva was protecting herself with her arms crossed in front of her face when she was shot in the head.
Botha (using Saayman) says she could only have protected herself like that if she knew the shots were coming.
Mangena and Van der Nest testifies Reeva's head was low, near the toilet bowl when the bullet hit her in the head.
No blood higher up on the wall, area of blood and tissue lower down on the wall, broken hair and brain matter on the floor between the toilet bowl and the back wall.
Dr. Jan Botha: She could not have died long after she was shot because blood did not have time to seep into her respiratory tract.

Oscar uses the tip of the bat as a lever to crack the door. Then breaks door open with his hands.Straight crack runs through bullet hole D.

Oscar drags Reeva into the bathroom. Puts a towel to at least one wound.
No imprints of him sitting or standing in the blood only lifting-and-dragging marks into the bathroom. And no arterial spurt higher up on the toilet walls so he didn't lift her inside the toilet. Blood and bloody towel in bathroom.
Hip wound has no exit wound so bleeds out of smaller entrance hole.

At 03:18:45 the texting and phoning starts. Oscar uses the phone smuggled from crime scene at 08:00 that morning.

Internet (GPRS) from 03:18:45 to 03:19:00 (lasts for 1 min and 15 seconds)

Then 3 seconds after that an outgoing call to Johan Stander from 03:19:03 to 03:19:27 (lasts for 24 seconds)

(35 second gap)

Then 35 seconds after Stander call an internet connection from 03:20:02 to 03:21:21 (lasts 1 minute and 19 seconds)
At the same time an outgoing call to ambulance service from 03:20:05 to 03:21:11 (lasts 1 min 06 seconds)

One second after the last internet connection ends another internet connection from 03:21:22 to 03:22:23 (1 min and 01 second)
At the same time two outgoing calls:
03:21:33 – Outgoing call to 6797 (Baba, security) – 9 seconds (misdial?)
03:21:47 – Outgoing call to 121 (voicemail) – 7 seconds (misdial according to Roux)
and while still on the same internet connection an incoming call at
03:22:05 from Baba, security.
Baba and another guard is outside OP's house.
Oscar tells him: "Everything is fine."
Baba says he receives a call from OP with just crying. No record of this call?

OP could have gone downstairs to open the door at anytime during the phoning and texting.

Not long after the 03:22:05 call from Baba the Standers arrive.

Baba and the Standers run to the house.

They see OP on the landing. Baba says Ms. Stander opened the door. Perhaps one side of double door?

Oscar carries Reeva down the stairs.

Oscar says she died in his arms at the bottom of the stairs.
Van der Nest says that the blood spatter supports O.P. statement.

 

[nastasya]

Let's begin with the stupidest of all OP's stories - the bedroom door.

There's zero chance he broke open the left half of the bedroom door on his way back upstairs after opening the front door.

That's idiotic, even for OP.

Plus, the bedroom door had the additional damage near the lock, and with the projectile hole.

So why was the door broken in?

Reeva locked herself in the bedroom.

Why did she do that?

They were fighting about something in the kitchen late that night.

The phones were involved. Why else would the 5th phone go missing for 16 days?

After OP broke through the bedroom door she fled to the bathroom.

She was terrified because he had already lost it for whatever reason.

He demanded she get out of the house, and she screamed for help in a panic.

She wouldn't stop screaming. He banged the tub with the bat and the door.

She still wouldn't stop screaming.

He got the gun to threaten her.

She panic even more and shrieked for help, thinking that would stop him from using the gun. Instead it made him fire four times making sure she was silenced.

In OP's distorted view of the world he probably believes he wasn't trying to kill her. He was just trying to get her to stop screaming.

My guess is the entire thing started late at night when they were both tired and irritable, and one thing led to another and neither would back down. They both had to make the other wrong about something.

 

[patCee]

) Crime was rare on the estate where OP lives, and there was good security. Possibly one of the most secure estates in the area. OP's personal security at home was lax to non existent; doors open, alarm deactivated? So he was not paranoid about intruders despite what he wishes the court to believe.

2) For an intruder, unlikely he would manage to get on to the estate. Then why pick OP's house where the lights were all on, according to witness, balcony doors open according to evidence, gate open according to security records, cars on drive. An intruder would also need to scale a wall to enter the bathroom, rather than enter on the ground floor where a window was already broken. Then to just lock himself in the toilet??? Doesn't make sense, too many reasons for an intruder to avoid the house.

£) Occam's Razor: There were only 2 people in the house, and in the same room prior to the shooting, OP and RS. No genuine reason to believe there was an intruder, let alone shoot. OP took the gun and went to the bathroom to shoot RS and fired 4 bullets, knowing she was in the toilet. She was the only other person in the house.

The rest of the information about motive, timeline, evidence about what happened and why, witness' etc. is important in order to convict for PM/CH and later sentencing, for justice to be seen to be done.

I believe there was a row leading up to the killing, and OP for some reason felt angered/humiliated to the point where he became irrational. What's the thing that young virile men are most sensitive about? Sex. RS felt threatened and removed herself from him to the toilet and locked herself in. This presented itself as a challenge to OP. 'He always wins'. On finding the toilet door locked he became enraged. He tried to force the door open, with or without bat. Failing to break in, he went to fetch his gun. At the time of shooting I suspect he was coldly calm. He could see her through a crack made in the door, or alternatively he could gauge her whereabouts by the sound of the bullets hitting her (the ricochet bullet making a loud sound, as opposed to quieter when hitting RS). On the door entrance the bullet marks look evenly spaced. In the aerial view of the toilet with the metal rods, B, C, D, look more closely aimed together at the end of the rods.

After the shooting I think he was thinking lucidly (adrenaline fueled) in the time available, about the need to show he thought he shot at an intruder. This resulted in a delay in seeking medical help asap. Stander was used to support this motive. The unexpected arrival of security and Dr Stipp cut this short.

 

[minor4th]

My theory is that OP DID intentionally pull that trigger that night. However, I don't think he knew that Reeva was in there. I think he heard a noise and thought it was an intruder, picked up his gun and was going out there with the intention of shooting whoever was there. I don't believe him when he says he didn't intend to shoot anyone that night. Unfortunately for him, it WAS Reeva that he killed. I wish he would acknowledge that he WAS responsible for killing her and not keep going to his well rehearsed "I thought there was someone coming out to attack me" sentence everytime.

Agree completely with this.

I would add that I believe Oscar is hiding something and we have not heard the whole truth of what happened that night. We haven't heard everything from Oscar because he is trying too hard to distance himself from any bad deed at all - whether it be some kind of tif between the two or Reeva sleeping in the other room and coming in when Oscar was unaware or whatever.

 

[lisasalinger]

My theory isn't just a theory about what happened in those final moments, it's also partially an examination of what was going on with the two of them that day. So bear with me, this may be a little lengthy.

There are many red flags to me that things were not normal that day.

1. OP testified that he left the house early that morning to beat the traffic for his financial meeting. He said he got there an hour early and met a friend for coffee. He was very vague about it and did not say with whom he met. My hinky meter went up on this one. My speculation, that was a planned coffee date. I don't know if it was with another woman, or if it was a business or family matter that he wanted to keep hidden from Reeva. Not sure. But I was left with that sneaking feeling that he left early to meet someone.

2. He then testified that he was supposed to meet up with Reeva in Johannesburg that afternoon after his meeting but for some reason, she decided to stay in Pretoria and get stuff done at his house and he ended up making plans with Justin Devaris to have dinner with the guys.

3. We know that his financial meeting didn't go well. Reeva sent him consoling messages and suggested he spend the night with family. This was odd to me. I get the sense that his "hurdles" weren't just about money. The fact that she suggested he spend the night with his siblings, Carl or Aimee, tells me that something else was going on. From her texts, I also got the sense that she wanted to go home that night, not stay at his place.

4. After looking at his afternoon/evening phones calls again, I see that he was talking to his Dad, Henke, a few times on the phone that night. One call was at 17:56:51 (307 seconds) and the other call was at 18:47:59 (56 seconds). Could this also be an indication that part of his problems that day were family related?

5. OP testified that he and Reeva exchanged more messages later in the day and he ultimately decided to cancel his guy's dinner and she declined Samantha G's invitation to hang out and watch a movie. Again, I didn't feel like I was getting the whole story from OP on the stand. His accounting of their plans that night felt very made up. I really get the sense that one of them felt forced to be at Oscar's that night, but I can't figure out if that was Reeva or if it was Oscar.

6. He testified that he got home about 15 minutes after Reeva and he started to say that he parked his car in the driveway, went to the front door and it was locked and the dogs were running around the house... and the Judge cut him off. She told him to slow down, he was going too fast. When he picks up with the story, he skips that part and just says that Reeva was in the kitchen cooking dinner. The way he was beginning that sentence gave me the impression that he was a little ticked off when he got to the house.

7. He says they chatted for a few minutes and then he disappears upstairs for pretty much an hour. His accounting of this hour, I think we can all agree, was bizarre. We know from the iPad evidence that *advertiser censored* was watched on his iPad but OP refused to admit to that. I think the hour by himself upstairs is indicative of somebody who had a crappy day and needed space.

8. They then have dinner and OP testified that he helped her with her modeling contract paperwork. He made changes in areas that he thought were not good for Reeva. I can see this potentially turning in to an argument if the jealousy/control factor was kicking in, especially if he was already in a sour mood. He said that typically they watch TV downstairs after dinner but this night they were both very tired so they skipped that. Again - red flag that all was not "normal" that night.

9. They go upstairs and he describes very mundane things such as brushing teeth, drinking tea, talking about cars. They very well could have been bickering at this point or maybe they had sex and he didn't want to testify to that, who knows. But the fact that his details of several hours spent together with Reeva that night were extraordinarily boring and vague, tells me that we didn't get nearly the full story.

10. We do know that he chatted with his cousin on the phone. OP is a master at keeping up appearances, so he could have seemed normal to his cousin that night, even if he did have a bad day. Reeva could have very well done some exercises, maybe to blow off steam.

11. Gina Myers has spoken in interviews about how the text she got from Reeva that night was not her norm. Typically she was very bubbly and always told her she loved her, but apparently the text was very direct that night. We have not seen this text, nor has Gina testified, so this is really just a side note to add in to again illustrate the not "normal" tone of that night.

12. Reeva had food in her stomach which had to have been consumed sooner than the 8 hours that OP testified about on the stand. It is my belief that they never went to bed that night. I think it was a mix of arguing, cooling off, arguing, cooling off, etc. Just an overall tense night.

13. Around the 2am hour, things escalated. Mrs. van der Mewre testified that it started at exactly 1:56am. That means she looked at her clock when it woke her. She heard a loud, angry female voice intermittently for an hour. At one point she got up out of bed to see if she could see anything from her balcony, but she could not. She had to put a pillow over her head to go back to sleep. For anybody who has been awakened late at night by loud arguing voices, which I have, it is very annoying. I think she was speaking truthfully about what she heard. She seemed very upset about it on the stand. Surely if she didn't have to be there, she would not have been. Her husband identified crying after the fact as being Oscar. It was "crying" not blood-curdling screaming. He likely heard Oscar after the final shots. The fact that the arguing and the crying were coming from the same direction/location tells me that she heard arguing in that house an hour prior to the gunfire.

14. I think the real heated arguing started elsewhere than the bathroom. I think they were either in one of the lounge areas or in the bedroom. I think the bedroom door was closed by Reeva, possibly even slammed in Oscar's face and he flipped out. She wanted to leave. Somehow the disheveled jeans are tied in to her trying to leave in a hurry. I do not buy for a second that the broken bedroom door happened from him kicking it. That is one heck of a crack in the bottom of the door. His prosthetic leg would have been pretty decently shattered, I think. It would have taken him 3 seconds to lean down and undo the floor/top latches to open that door. No need to kick it whatsoever. But it's not just the bottom crack that we see. There are two good "whack" marks right near the door handle and what appears to be two separate pellet marks. One hole that has an entrance and exit, and the other appears to be a grazing mark. I think the first set of bangs very well could have been the airgun shooting at the bedroom door. I also think he may have used the metal baseball bat on the door, but don't think anybody would have heard that.

15. The Stipps testified that the screams escalated and climaxed, and the sounds got closer. I think this was Reeva running to the bathroom. She very well may have had the cricket bat in her hand for defense.

16. I think Reeva also had her phone on her (to call police) and either Oscar caught up to her and whacked it away from her, or she dropped it, leaving it on the ground with the cover knocked off. This would have really pissed him off.

17. Reeva scrambles in to the toilet room and quickly locks the door.

18. Oscar first uses the cricket bat to whack the metal plate, in anger. He also takes a whack at the door. Reeva's screams are escalating.

19. This is when the Stipps and Burger/Johnson heard the intermingled voices. Reeva screaming for help and Oscar either mocking her cries for help or maybe even pleading with her to please come out. Reeva is facing the door, literally pleading for him to stop and for help to come. I think they were both desperate at this point.

20. Oscar has had it. He's totally in a rage. He retreats to the bedroom and gets his gun. Whatever final words or screams were yelled, he just can't contain himself. Fires off the shots through the door. I think there is a very good chance that he could see her through the crack.

21. He likely paused for some moments there and just put the gun on the ground. Picked up the bat that was already in the bathroom and hit the door one more time (this was the lighter strike that hit right on the break, so it's very possible people didn't hear it) and started ripping the panels out. He walks in, picks her up and puts her on the bathroom floor. Goes to get his phone and calls Stander in a panic. I do think he was very upset at this point. He probably could not believe that he actually just did this and is terrified and upset. He was sobbing. Not totally knowing at this point what he's going to do. Stander tells him he must call Netcare. To comply, Oscar does that, but doesn't tell Netcare the truth about the injuries hence, no ambulance. He's in panic mode, very upset, his mind racing a mile a minute.

22. He runs downstairs, unlocks door and gets plastic bags. I think there was something he was trying to hide. I don't think he was going to get rid of the body. That one is a little too far-fetched for me. I think he wanted to get rid of other evidence, but I don't know exactly what. During this timeframe, he accidentally calls Baba (crap!) and Baba calls back. Again, he literally does not know what the h#ll to say so he blurts out "everything is fine" and hangs up. Again, crap! He knows this whole situation is BAD.

23. He carries Reeva's body out of that bathroom, he has to get her the heck out of there. He walks with her down the hallway, the last of her weak heart beats create the arterial spurt from her arm (as she was only just shot about 4-5 minutes ago.) He's up on the landing and sees everybody arriving at the door, he carries her down the stairs....

Now from my theory, you can see that he has his prosthetics on the whole time. I am currently of the belief that he was not on his stumps for the shooting. I know that this conflicts with the height of the bullet holes but Mangena did leave open the possibility that he could have been shooting from the hip, although not a probable stance.

OP stated a few times in his testimony that he was "crouching" in the bathroom as he approached the intruder. Although I don't believe the grand majority of what he says, I wonder if this may be one of those little truths that is weaved in to his story that he accidently blurted out.

Once I started thinking about that and adding it together with how mobile he seemingly was to shoot 4 times through the door, rip the door down so quickly and get her out of that room fairly quickly... it dawned on me that maybe we had it wrong. Maybe the legs really were on the whole time and his stance was not fully upright.

 

[lisasalinger]

Well, I posted Theory #2 mostly to indicate that I can consider alternatives and that indeed all of those things have crossed my mind. I have actually tried to come up with a theory against Oscar that fits with the evidence, but it can be nothing more than speculation. I hope that my consideration of such a scenario puts an end to any thoughts that I can only view things from one perspective or that my reasoning is clouded by confirmation bias or blind "support" for Oscar. That is not the case, and I have really done everything to think of this from all angles to arrive at a sound conclusion. (based on evidence presented so far.


I actually believe Theory #1 for 2 reasons: 1) That's what the evidence shows, and 2) there's absolutely zero evidence that there was a fight between OP and RS that night (the screaming heard by witnesses could not have been Reeva)

Theory #2 is only possible to conceive if I start with a conclusion that he is guilty and then work backwards to try to make the evidence fit my conclusion, which I think is what the State is doing and has done throughout its investigation. It's pure speculation and conjecture and imagination - which is not what trials are all about.

The fact is - of those who believe OP is guilty, there are numerous and various theories about how it happened. That should indicate that there is not a cohesive and conclusive case for guilt. It there were, we would not be having multiple speculative theories about how he intentionally killed Reeva - there's no evidence to support any one theory, so that leaves the imagination to fill in the blanks.

BBM... I think having numerous theories of how a murder happened is actually extremely common especially when only two people were present.

Look at Jodi and Travis. There is no doubt in most people's minds that she intentionally murdered him, and it was quite premeditated. However... she spent several hours at his house beforehand, they had sex, photographed it, took photos in the shower, she left a camera in the washer and to this day, many people debate how exactly things went down that day. There are probably 100 different theories that I've seen about those final hours.

But there's no dispute that somebody ended up slaughtered at the end of the day.

 

[beach]

:bump:

 

[james83]

My theory isn't just a theory about what happened in those final moments, it's also partially an examination of what was going on with the two of them that day. So bear with me, this may be a little lengthy.

There are many red flags to me that things were not normal that day.

1. OP testified that he left the house early that morning to beat the traffic for his financial meeting. He said he got there an hour early and met a friend for coffee. He was very vague about it and did not say with whom he met. My hinky meter went up on this one. My speculation, that was a planned coffee date. I don't know if it was with another woman, or if it was a business or family matter that he wanted to keep hidden from Reeva. Not sure. But I was left with that sneaking feeling that he left early to meet someone.

2. He then testified that he was supposed to meet up with Reeva in Johannesburg that afternoon after his meeting but for some reason, she decided to stay in Pretoria and get stuff done at his house and he ended up making plans with Justin Devaris to have dinner with the guys.

3. We know that his financial meeting didn't go well. Reeva sent him consoling messages and suggested he spend the night with family. This was odd to me. I get the sense that his "hurdles" weren't just about money. The fact that she suggested he spend the night with his siblings, Carl or Aimee, tells me that something else was going on. From her texts, I also got the sense that she wanted to go home that night, not stay at his place.

4. After looking at his afternoon/evening phones calls again, I see that he was talking to his Dad, Henke, a few times on the phone that night. One call was at 17:56:51 (307 seconds) and the other call was at 18:47:59 (56 seconds). Could this also be an indication that part of his problems that day were family related?

5. OP testified that he and Reeva exchanged more messages later in the day and he ultimately decided to cancel his guy's dinner and she declined Samantha G's invitation to hang out and watch a movie. Again, I didn't feel like I was getting the whole story from OP on the stand. His accounting of their plans that night felt very made up. I really get the sense that one of them felt forced to be at Oscar's that night, but I can't figure out if that was Reeva or if it was Oscar.

6. He testified that he got home about 15 minutes after Reeva and he started to say that he parked his car in the driveway, went to the front door and it was locked and the dogs were running around the house... and the Judge cut him off. She told him to slow down, he was going too fast. When he picks up with the story, he skips that part and just says that Reeva was in the kitchen cooking dinner. The way he was beginning that sentence gave me the impression that he was a little ticked off when he got to the house.

7. He says they chatted for a few minutes and then he disappears upstairs for pretty much an hour. His accounting of this hour, I think we can all agree, was bizarre. We know from the iPad evidence that *advertiser censored* was watched on his iPad but OP refused to admit to that. I think the hour by himself upstairs is indicative of somebody who had a crappy day and needed space.

8. They then have dinner and OP testified that he helped her with her modeling contract paperwork. He made changes in areas that he thought were not good for Reeva. I can see this potentially turning in to an argument if the jealousy/control factor was kicking in, especially if he was already in a sour mood. He said that typically they watch TV downstairs after dinner but this night they were both very tired so they skipped that. Again - red flag that all was not "normal" that night.

9. They go upstairs and he describes very mundane things such as brushing teeth, drinking tea, talking about cars. They very well could have been bickering at this point or maybe they had sex and he didn't want to testify to that, who knows. But the fact that his details of several hours spent together with Reeva that night were extraordinarily boring and vague, tells me that we didn't get nearly the full story.

10. We do know that he chatted with his cousin on the phone. OP is a master at keeping up appearances, so he could have seemed normal to his cousin that night, even if he did have a bad day. Reeva could have very well done some exercises, maybe to blow off steam.

11. Gina Myers has spoken in interviews about how the text she got from Reeva that night was not her norm. Typically she was very bubbly and always told her she loved her, but apparently the text was very direct that night. We have not seen this text, nor has Gina testified, so this is really just a side note to add in to again illustrate the not "normal" tone of that night.

12. Reeva had food in her stomach which had to have been consumed sooner than the 8 hours that OP testified about on the stand. It is my belief that they never went to bed that night. I think it was a mix of arguing, cooling off, arguing, cooling off, etc. Just an overall tense night.

13. Around the 2am hour, things escalated. Mrs. van der Mewre testified that it started at exactly 1:56am. That means she looked at her clock when it woke her. She heard a loud, angry female voice intermittently for an hour. At one point she got up out of bed to see if she could see anything from her balcony, but she could not. She had to put a pillow over her head to go back to sleep. For anybody who has been awakened late at night by loud arguing voices, which I have, it is very annoying. I think she was speaking truthfully about what she heard. She seemed very upset about it on the stand. Surely if she didn't have to be there, she would not have been. Her husband identified crying after the fact as being Oscar. It was "crying" not blood-curdling screaming. He likely heard Oscar after the final shots. The fact that the arguing and the crying were coming from the same direction/location tells me that she heard arguing in that house an hour prior to the gunfire.

14. I think the real heated arguing started elsewhere than the bathroom. I think they were either in one of the lounge areas or in the bedroom. I think the bedroom door was closed by Reeva, possibly even slammed in Oscar's face and he flipped out. She wanted to leave. Somehow the disheveled jeans are tied in to her trying to leave in a hurry. I do not buy for a second that the broken bedroom door happened from him kicking it. That is one heck of a crack in the bottom of the door. His prosthetic leg would have been pretty decently shattered, I think. It would have taken him 3 seconds to lean down and undo the floor/top latches to open that door. No need to kick it whatsoever. But it's not just the bottom crack that we see. There are two good "whack" marks right near the door handle and what appears to be two separate pellet marks. One hole that has an entrance and exit, and the other appears to be a grazing mark. I think the first set of bangs very well could have been the airgun shooting at the bedroom door. I also think he may have used the metal baseball bat on the door, but don't think anybody would have heard that.

15. The Stipps testified that the screams escalated and climaxed, and the sounds got closer. I think this was Reeva running to the bathroom. She very well may have had the cricket bat in her hand for defense.

16. I think Reeva also had her phone on her (to call police) and either Oscar caught up to her and whacked it away from her, or she dropped it, leaving it on the ground with the cover knocked off. This would have really pissed him off.

17. Reeva scrambles in to the toilet room and quickly locks the door.

18. Oscar first uses the cricket bat to whack the metal plate, in anger. He also takes a whack at the door. Reeva's screams are escalating.

19. This is when the Stipps and Burger/Johnson heard the intermingled voices. Reeva screaming for help and Oscar either mocking her cries for help or maybe even pleading with her to please come out. Reeva is facing the door, literally pleading for him to stop and for help to come. I think they were both desperate at this point.

20. Oscar has had it. He's totally in a rage. He retreats to the bedroom and gets his gun. Whatever final words or screams were yelled, he just can't contain himself. Fires off the shots through the door. I think there is a very good chance that he could see her through the crack.

21. He likely paused for some moments there and just put the gun on the ground. Picked up the bat that was already in the bathroom and hit the door one more time (this was the lighter strike that hit right on the break, so it's very possible people didn't hear it) and started ripping the panels out. He walks in, picks her up and puts her on the bathroom floor. Goes to get his phone and calls Stander in a panic. I do think he was very upset at this point. He probably could not believe that he actually just did this and is terrified and upset. He was sobbing. Not totally knowing at this point what he's going to do. Stander tells him he must call Netcare. To comply, Oscar does that, but doesn't tell Netcare the truth about the injuries hence, no ambulance. He's in panic mode, very upset, his mind racing a mile a minute.

22. He runs downstairs, unlocks door and gets plastic bags. I think there was something he was trying to hide. I don't think he was going to get rid of the body. That one is a little too far-fetched for me. I think he wanted to get rid of other evidence, but I don't know exactly what. During this timeframe, he accidentally calls Baba (crap!) and Baba calls back. Again, he literally does not know what the h#ll to say so he blurts out "everything is fine" and hangs up. Again, crap! He knows this whole situation is BAD.

23. He carries Reeva's body out of that bathroom, he has to get her the heck out of there. He walks with her down the hallway, the last of her weak heart beats create the arterial spurt from her arm (as she was only just shot about 4-5 minutes ago.) He's up on the landing and sees everybody arriving at the door, he carries her down the stairs....

Now from my theory, you can see that he has his prosthetics on the whole time. I am currently of the belief that he was not on his stumps for the shooting. I know that this conflicts with the height of the bullet holes but Mangena did leave open the possibility that he could have been shooting from the hip, although not a probable stance.

OP stated a few times in his testimony that he was "crouching" in the bathroom as he approached the intruder. Although I don't believe the grand majority of what he says, I wonder if this may be one of those little truths that is weaved in to his story that he accidently blurted out.

Once I started thinking about that and adding it together with how mobile he seemingly was to shoot 4 times through the door, rip the door down so quickly and get her out of that room fairly quickly... it dawned on me that maybe we had it wrong. Maybe the legs really were on the whole time and his stance was not fully upright.

Very interesting and you got me thinking, according to O.P he did all of this before putting on his prothesis

"It was upon that time, my Lady, that it first dawned upon me that it could be Reeva that was in the bathroom or in the toilet. I jumped out of the other side of the bed and I ran my hands along the curtains to see that she wasn't hiding.

"I didn't want to believe it was Reeva in the toilet, I was so scared that someone was coming in to attack us. I made my way inside the bathroom... I tried to grab the handle, rip open the door. I pushed the door to open and it was locked.

"I ran back to the room, I opened the curtains, opened the doors and shouted from the balcony for help. I screamed, 'Help, help, help.' I screamed for somebody to help me.

He went from having limited mobility etc on his stumps, to suddenly jumping, running and trying to rip door's open on them.

 

[wb180]

As this thread is about theories, I guess I will give my theory.

I think OP was generally pissed off that night as they weren't really talking to each other anyways. They never slept.

Something ticked him off (maybe while they had their pillow talk). Arguments escalated and OP's solution to all things is to use his gun as shown before. He shoots RS in the toilet maybe trying to scared her but she 'accidentally' got hit and she screams.

He hesitates as he is not sure what to do but her screams really hits home and he decides to kill her to end her screams/suffering. Hence why the later three shots were more accurate. He didn't really wanted to kill her but those screams were really haunting him and he could hear her suffering.

Anyways, those screams ends but he doesn't know what to do next. But he knows this can't leak out to the press so he calls his mate that he can trust. That's why he never called 911.

Unfortunately Baba (doing his job) and Stipp (being a good citizen) went to his place to help. When he saw them, he told them it was an accident (which is sort of true in OP's weird world that maybe the first shot wasn't suppose to hit her but it did anyways).

Well that's my theory. I could add more after this but I can't be bothered as there will be million theories anyways

If only OP told the truth instead of lying and giving out BS versions time after time again, we would have the real version. So I blame OP that we have this thread in the first place!

:bigfight:

 

[wb180]

BBM... I think having numerous theories of how a murder happened is actually extremely common especially when only two people were present.

Look at Jodi and Travis. There is no doubt in most people's minds that she intentionally murdered him, and it was quite premeditated. However... she spent several hours at his house beforehand, they had sex, photographed it, took photos in the shower, she left a camera in the washer and to this day, many people debate how exactly things went down that day. There are probably 100 different theories that I've seen about those final hours.

But there's no dispute that somebody ended up slaughtered at the end of the day.

Totally agree - that's why there is a prima facie case of MURDER for OP! Lots of circumstantial evidence but one hard evidence is that OP put 4 hollow point bullets (you see what I did? =P) into RS and it killed her.

 

[Interested Bystander]

The problem with the "bat first Brigade" is that no-one heard the bat and both the DT and the PT agree that the bats came after the shots. We cannot invent evidence.

BIB

Sorry that is incorrect. The PT have stated categorically that they believe the shots were the last set of sounds at around 3.17am.

 

[Interested Bystander]

O.k here goes.
I believe they argued and i believe the catalyst for the argument was most likely jealousy.
I am now very much a member of the bat used first brigade.
So an argument happened in the early hours as heard By Van Der Merwe, who it should be noted also heard a test argument coming from Pistorius house in February this year
After around an hour of hearing the arguing Van Der Merwe eventually falls asleep.
Meanwhile Oscar eventually erupts into a rage("sometimes i'm scared of you").
Reeva take's shelter in the toilet, i do not believe Oscar's claim that she has her phone with her in the toilet.
On his stumps at this point Oscar begins striking the door with the bat in a fury causing the damage to the door, he can now see Reeva, The Stipps heard the bat striking the door, Mrs Stipp believes the toilet light is on despite it being broken due to the bathroom light shining through the damage created by the cricket bat strikes.
Reeva at this point is now terrified and her desperate screams for help begin, the burgers are awoken by her screams, at one point Reeva yells out for help, Oscar mockingly shouts's out for help in reply.
Just before 3.17 Oscar totally loses control and grabs his gun, Reeva can see him through the damage in the door and her screams reach there peak, these are the screams Michelle Burger describe's as more intense, and Charl Johnson said "The intensity and fear escalated and that’s when the first shots were fired", also at this point Van Der Merwe is awoken by 4 loud bangs, her husband says those was gunshots.
I strongly believe he pauses slightly after the first shot but when Reeva scream's out he knows there is no way back, he fire's 3 more times until the screams stop.
For a short time he is frozen while what he has just done sink's in, eventually in total panic he phones Stander, he then phones Netcare, what is said i don't know but i don't believe he has got the toilet door open at this stage so he doesn't explain how severe Reeva's injuries are, hence they tell him to bring her in.
A this stage(3:21:11) he realises he better get the door open, he is unable to do this on his stumps, he goes to put on his prosthesis and walks back into the bathroom, Dr Stipp see's him walk from right to left as he approaches the toilet door and pries the panels out, he drags Reeva out, he know's she is dead and the implications are now dawning on him, as is typical of Oscar he begin's to think about how he can avoid punishment, the intruder story is his only option, he know's he has to act like he want's her to live is if his story is to be believed, he carries her downstairs just as Stander arrives, and the rest plays out as we know it happened.

Exactly what I feel happened.

 

[jay-jay]

I agree .. all apart from OP being on his stumps .. I personally think he was on his p.legs all evening/night.

 

[BritsKate]

BIB

Sorry that is incorrect. The PT have stated categorically that they believe the shots were the last set of sounds at around 3.17am.

Getting tired of saying it yet? I'm really not kidding when I say I am ready to tattoo the whole bloody redirect onto myself. This link, yet again:

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked police forensic expert Johannes Vermeulen whether he could conclude that all four bullet holes appeared in the door before the dents made by the bat.

The question was aimed at testing the veracity of Pistorius's version of events, in which he fired four shots into the door then, after realising that Steenkamp was not asleep in bed, fetched a cricket bat to break down the door.

Vermeulen responded that he could not prove that this was indeed the case.

http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2014/03/13/oscar-trial-expert-can-t-fix-sequence-of-shots-bashing

 

[Interested Bystander]

Getting tired of saying it yet? I'm really not kidding when I say I am ready to tattoo the whole bloody redirect onto myself. This link, yet again:


http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2014/03/13/oscar-trial-expert-can-t-fix-sequence-of-shots-bashing

Nel stated that it was the states position that the shots were fired at 3.17am (which makes them the last set of "sounds") but I shall have to find it on the video and post the link. It came after Roux had inferred that both the Defence and the Prosecution thought that the bats came after the shots, causing Nel to jump up and object.


Here are two of many reports of the states position. I will find the video tomorrow of Nel saying this. It is now almost midnight in the UK and time to hit the sack.

https://www.facebook.com/Justice4ReevaSteenkamp/posts/547301102043857?stream_ref=5

"Nel interjected that the State’s case was that the shots fired at 3.17am were the shots that caused the Steenkamp’s death and the screams heard before the shots were those of Steenkamp. It was agreed that the wounds she sustained would have stopped her screaming any further.
Roux stated it was common cause that the accused fired four shots, and it was therefore not possible for there to have been two volleys of shots.
Nel stepped in to explain that there appeared to have been two sets of noises which the witness believes were shots.
“We say the deceased was alive and screaming. At 3.17 the four gunshots killed her. We will deal with things if we have discrepancies between our witnesses. But for now we say there was one set of shots and object to Mr Roux saying that she could not have screamed before 3.17am,” Nel said. "




http://www.enca.com/south-africa/oscar-trial-focus-reevas-last-moments

“It will be the State’s case that Steenkamp was shot dead at 3.17am on Valentine’s Day last year.”

 

[BritsKate]

Nel stated that it was the states position that the shots were fired at 3.17am (which makes them the last set of "sounds") but I shall have to find it on the video and post the link. It came after Roux had inferred that both the Defence and the Prosecution thought that the bats came after the shots, causing Nel to jump up and object.

I know...but many people conclude, because of Vermeulen's messy cross in which he assumes the bat strikes are what caused the door to be broken down, is the end of the story. Nel cleaned it up on redirect when Vermeulen allowed bat strikes and kicking to the door before the shots.

Defence: First bangs (shortly after 3) were gunshots; Second bangs (3:17) were bat strikes.
Prosecutor: First bangs were Oscar kicking or hitting the door with the bat (remember the metal panel too) and the second bangs were gunshots. (Also consistent, tmk, with blood and pathology testimonies.)

(Sorry if my post was confusing, IB, I was simply agreeing with you and lamenting us having to repeat it ad nauseum. :biggrin