Trial Discussion Thread #1 - 14.03.03-06, Day 1-4

[minor4th]

No matter how hard I try to see how this was a help to OP, I cannot. He has already stated that Reeva did not respond. If she had responded at all he would have know that it was her in the toilet cubicle or elsewhere in the house.

Listening to her testimony, I do not think it is completely clear what she heard and when. One possibility is that she screamed while being shot and Oscar did not hear it - or he could be lying, but it just does not make sense that he waits for her to go to bathroom and then gets his gun and shoots through the door 4 times in the middle of the night.

 

[soozieqtips]

It would be interesting to know if the sound of a cricket bat carries as far as a gunshot. Maybe that's why Burger didn't hear the cricket bat? She said they slept with the windows open, so I imagine that even from a distance of 3 blocks, that loud sounds would travel. Will they test these theories in court to see if it's possible to hear a cricket bat bashing a door down from 3 blocks away, and if it's possible to hear gunshots from her house? She seemed like an incredibly confident witness in my opinion. Also, there must be a record that she (or her husband) called security to report what was happening. Why on earth would have security have been called if she hadn't heard a fight going on? Unless the defence can crack her, I think it's a very very bad start for OP. Here's hoping that Reeva and her family will finally get justice for her brutal and premature death.

 

[Madeleine74]

It makes zero sense that an "intruder" would run into someone's bedroom & then into their bathroom. For what? There's nothing valuable in there. This whole "afraid of an intruder" paranoia is being used as a convenient excuse. Has an intruder EVER gotten in OP's home? He has armed guards and dogs.

At a minimum his shooting was reckless endangerment, but I think it goes beyond that. He may not have intended to kill Reeva, but he sure intended to kill whoever was in that bathroom.

 

[minor4th]

It makes zero sense that an "intruder" would run into someone's bedroom & then into their bathroom. For what? There's nothing valuable in there. This whole "afraid of an intruder" paranoia is being used as a convenient excuse. Has an intruder EVER gotten in OP's home? He has armed guards and dogs.

At a minimum his shooting was reckless endangerment, but I think it goes beyond that. He may not have intended to kill Reeva, but he sure intended to kill whoever was in that bathroom.

I agree that the shooting was reckless homicide. He claims he thought an intruder came in through the bathroom window that was open. Even if that's really what he thought, his actions were not reasonable and they resulted in the death of an innocent person. I just don't see premeditation here.

 

[Carol70]

Hi guys, so happy to see some familiar names here still and hope the past year has been kind to you all.

I just went through everything and didn't see if anyone has posted this yet, the small circle is OP house and the large red circle is the estate where the witness lives. It's quite some distance and just hope that she doesn't get side railed tomorrow because she took so long to give her statement and admits to gathering information from SKY/CNN before approaching the police. I'm still reserving judgement for now and will wait to see what the days ahead will bring however, I was pretty impressed with Burgers testimony today, she was a great witness.

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

Oh my gosh, I had to turn it off. I was watching on HLN and I cannot stand the voice of the prosecutor? Or defense atty? Who knows.. It looks like pistorias should be doing laps in that holding area...

 

[soozieqtips]

Does anyone know if the prosecutors managed to get Apple to unlock the password for OP's phone? Last I heard, they travelled to the US a couple of days ago to get help with the encrypted password but I haven't heard if they managed to unlock it. OP has always said he couldn't remember the password, and I imagine the phone might hold some clues as to what else happened that night before he killed her.

 

[Carol70]

Does anyone know if the prosecutors managed to get Apple to unlock the password for OP's phone? Last I heard, they travelled to the US a couple of days ago to get help with the encrypted password but I haven't heard if they managed to unlock it. OP has always said he couldn't remember the password, and I imagine the phone might hold some clues as to what else happened that night before he killed her.

Various news sites reported that they did get information and apparently he was watching p*rn and used car websites. It hasn't been confirmed thou!
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/general/97297-oscar-pistorius-🤬🤬🤬🤬-surfing-on-phone-npa-mum.html

 

[Madeleine74]

I agree that the shooting was reckless homicide. He claims he thought an intruder came in through the bathroom window that was open. Even if that's really what he thought, his actions were not reasonable and they resulted in the death of an innocent person. I just don't see premeditation here.

I don't either. Even if they were having a fight & she ran into the bathroom, I'd consider that 2nd degree murder (using our US legal language). Now one could argue that he had enough time to form the intent to kill after that first shot when there was a pause before he started shooting again. That might sway me to premeditation but I'd really have to be convinced and have more evidence.

 

[soozieqtips]

Various news sites reported that they did get information and apparently he was watching p*rn and used car websites. It hasn't been confirmed thou!
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/general/97297-oscar-pistorius-🤬🤬🤬🤬-surfing-on-phone-npa-mum.html

Thanks Carol. I read about him watching p*rn, but thought that was on a different phone. So if this is true, then his password must have been unlocked.

 

[Feynman]

Thanks Carol. I read about him watching p*rn, but thought that was on a different phone. So if this is true, then his password must have been unlocked.

There was never any problem with the password to the phone itself; it was the WhatsApp on the phone that OP claimed he could not remember the password to. WhatsApp allows messages to sit encrypted on the phone and this is what investigators are curious about.

 

[Feynman]

It makes zero sense that an "intruder" would run into someone's bedroom & then into their bathroom. For what? There's nothing valuable in there. This whole "afraid of an intruder" paranoia is being used as a convenient excuse. Has an intruder EVER gotten in OP's home? He has armed guards and dogs.

OP hasn't claimed an intruder ran into the bedroom and then into the bathroom. His claim is that he heard noises from the bathroom, got freaked out that there was an intruder in there, etc. There had been previous break-in incidents at the Silver Woods estate where OP lived.

 

[Mountain Misst]

Dr Gerry Versveld is the surgeon who amputated Oscar's legs.

http://oscarpistorius.com/about-oscar/

And here is an article about Annemarie who claims to be his ex wife, is uncertain of her surname and was ejected from court today. I bet she'll try and get back in tomorrow.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/oscar-s-dead-mom-asked-me-to-help-him-1.1475017#.UxSxJ8u9KSM

:seeya:Zwie

Thanks for the input on Day#1, everyone. They're just warming up the curling irons.

 

[kittychi]

What's your favorite Q from Roux today?

Many to pick from.y

Perhaps my fave is: Are you calling this man here, Oscar Pistorius, a liar??

This:

Roux asks witness how often she's heard gunshots. Laughter when he asks when she last heard them and she drily replies: "14th February 2013"

 

[Feynman]

Excerpted for brevity:

hope that she doesn't get side railed tomorrow because she took so long to give her statement and admits to gathering information from SKY/CNN before approaching the police.

I agree that's a problem. Why did it take 2 weeks for her to be interviewed by the police? Actually it will help if her husband sticks to his 4, 5, or 6 shots testimony Roux brought up. That would support Burger's claim that they both are sticking to what they first remembered.

 

[calamityjane831]

Thank you everyone for the posts, links, twitter information, youtube links and time zone information. I can always count on the WS community for all the best information. So fascinating to watch trials in other countries so many differences but then the human factors in the trials really bring it home for me and the heart of the trial is the same.

 

[katydid23]

I have some concerns about the judge after hearing her answer to Roux. The State had asked him to move on, in the questioning. And he was asking the judge for more time and he said to the judge: [paraphrasing] "I would like the witness to answer my question about whether there might have been shots she did not hear, while she was asleep."

the judge mistakenly answered by saying " She said[paraphrasing] " the witness was 1700 yds away and so said she could not hear .."

with??? That was not what the witness answered in reply to that question at all. That worries me.

 

[Irisha]

Off topic: my sleep schedule is going to be so jacked up if I watch this entire trial.

What time does it start EST if you know? TIA

 

[Mountain Misst]

Court is in session 10am Pretoria time (that's 7 hours ahead of EST) so 3am your time Irisha.

The first of 107 state witnesses that could be called to testify was on the stand for around three hours on the first day and will return to continue her testimony on Tuesday. Initial hopes that Pistorius’ trial would be completed by March 20, with just 14 days of proceedings, appear to be optimistic.

Just a tad!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...782324-a2fa-11e3-b865-38b254d92063_story.html

 

[jilly]

The one part of Burger's testimony that did go in OP's favor was when she was describing hearing both a man and woman screaming "help." This was before any shots were fired, if I'm not mistaken. To me one could infer that OP thought something was going on (otherwise, why scream "help"?). I was expecting this witness to say she heard yelling (like a fight). That's not quite what she said at all.

Yes....the blood curdling screams woke her up. That to me, indicates there was some severe trauma going on before he shot her. Maybe there is merit to him beating her with the cricket bat before shooting her. The bat apparently had blood on it which Oscar says was blood spatter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...end-Reeva-Steenkamp-cricket-bat-shot-her.html