I cannot for the life of me fathom how Judge Masipa could have come to the finding that Oscar did not foresee that he might kill the person behind that door whether she believed his version or the Prosecuton's - 4 shots = INTENT - every Legal Pundit who has commented since the end of Court today seems to be gobsmacked that she didn't Rule Dolus Eventualis - it's clear cut they say. The Judge seemed to take Oscar's testimony that he didn't know it was Reeva,then criticised him for being a poor witness , thus contradicted herself ! My jaw dropped ! She believed witnesses who say they heard Oscar crying, Van der Merves? but dismissed Mrs Van der Merves? testimony that she heard shouting like an argument going on , that it could have been anything to do with Oscar and Reeva ! So she was selective in which testimonies she cherry picked to believe - I think there's a HUGE chance that Nel will Appeal the Culpable Homicide Ruling- he definitely will if she doesn't give him a minimum 8 year prison sentence, which was the word going around yesterday - minimum 8-10 years. I don't think it would be Justice for Reeva and her family if he only served half of that or got lessor sentence come the actual Sentencing in few weeks time.
One shot, yes I could see how Judge Masipa could have reached the Verdict- BUT 4 ?? into that tiny toilet cubicle. The Judge even went through his testimony saying he had time to make an alternative decision than firing at that door. Is her verdict something to do with the transfering of A to B and Oscar meant to kill A but person B dies ? or some legality like that. Masipa did explain the Legal terminology - I got a bit confused by that, but this MUST be why she reached a Culpable Homicide Verdict surely ? As I am shocked.
The Law in SA is just messed up ! What a mockery- It pained me to see Oldwage and Roux looking so smug and the camera pan to the pain in Reeva's family and friends faces. Nel should have addressed the timeline, that was always going to be an issue, the Defence did, and Nel should have pre-empted that. It did seem to me that to discount all the witness evidence seemed wrong, yet she believed Stipp , one witness, and Carice only on the state of Oscar's emotional state after the fact. Oscar made enough calls to get the advice before they arrived. There was only ONE excuse to use for him for what he'd done and it's SA, so of course it was going to be he mistook her for a 'BURGLAR'- so he knew , or was told to :
1) open the bathroom window if you want to convince the police you thought Reeva was an intruder
2) make sure you tell anyone arriving at the scene ie Standers ,you thought Reeva was an intruder and anyone arriving thereafter
3) Don't speak to the police , let Oldwage, the family Lawyer deal with everything from now on.
I hope Nel Appeals this Charge and any sentence, and a Judge who isn't afraid to Charge Oscar Pistorius with Murder does so, because that's what the evidence throughout the Trial showed and what 4 shots is = minimum Dolus Eventualis.
I watched Judge Masipa's face when she was speaking and when she got to the Murder Charge of Dolus and Eventualis, she looked to go bit red-faced to me and was not as sure of herself as when she had started today- it was as if she knew something more but wasn't saying, it was as if it was with reluctance she said what she did not finding him Guilty of Murder without Intent OR I don't know whether that was just me, but either she was under pressure or she just has read it all so wrong having only had 7 years experience, and so have the two Assessors.
