Pistorius wails while recalling shooting
AP | By GERALD IMRAY And CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Published April 8, 2014 03:22PM EDT

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A subdued Oscar Pistorius on Tuesday described dinner at home, chatting and looking at cell phone photos with Reeva Steenkamp on the last night of her life. Then he erupted in anguished howls and heaving sobs while testifying at his murder trial about the moments when he says he realized he shot his girlfriend through a closed toilet door.

The shocking spectacle of what appeared to be a tormented man highlighted the drama of Pistorius' inspirational rise and sudden fall. The South African double-amputee runner captured the world's attention when he successfully fought for permission to run in the 2012 Olympics on his carbon-fiber prostheses. The very next year, he was facing charges for killing the woman he said he loved.

The court in Pretoria, the South African capital, adjourned because of the star athlete's breakdown, ending a day in which Pistorius spoke of the loving aspects of his relationship with Steenkamp in testimony designed to counter a prosecution picture of him as temperamental and overbearing, and then outlined his version of the final hours before the shooting.

...more at link
http://www.twcc.com/sports/stories/2014 ... rder-trial

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I've been listening to him and I kind of believe him..... I might be wrong because I dont know all the details .

I believe him too Sha.

But it's not actually required that he be believed, so long as he is not discredited completely.. his version remains as "reasonable doubt" One counter example to what the Prosecution claim. Just that is sufficient to say the State have not proved his guilt "beyond reasonable doubt"

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Once again, predictable as an extreme closeup of a face in a 60 minutes interview.

Most would have fit right in with the lions and the Christians. Or been a perfect fit addition for the OJ jury. It's almost disgusting that the defense has maybe 15 more witnesses to go and neither side has put all their best Hail Mary's before the judge in closing argument. Yet this lynch crazy crowd are hell bent and convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Reeva was slaughtered intentionally.

75% would crawl over ten miles of cut glass on their stomach just to find ways to twist remarks or testimony in such a way that it morphs into their unbridled unmitigated passion that they HAVE to create that damn missing argument. It had to be a crazed Oscar that night swearing at her and threatening her and chasing her into the toilet. Just had to be. Nothing can change my mind.

Isn't it a shame that the prosecution has in their legal document response to a defense inquiry that they have no idea how the argument started or why. It was just a "poof" out of nowhere magic argument.

Several things were made more plausible to me today that I had been questioning. One, I had never given thought about the possibility of the fans being squeezed between the door--most of the legs of that fan already in the room. With the curtains drawn (and they were blackout drapes as I had possibly thought) it would be very dark in the room. When he went to close the door, he would have quite easily been able to set them in the room without facing the bed. Then he only closed the door and curtain again, which kept the room dark and could have been done very fast.

Now, the stereo is also to his left, which would not have him facing the bed. It is only at this point that he hears the window open. So his perception that he didn't know Reeva is in the bed is more acceptable to me than it was.

Since (according to his testimony) knowing she had just spoke to him, he would have no reason to immediately think Reeva had slipped to the bathroom. It would have been only a matter of moments while he was occupied with the fans. And she WAS up. His thought could have logically been focused then only on the noise. By whispering to her to call the police and get down, it still holds much more credibility than before.

Since he now has stated he went to sleep for several hours before waking up to find Reeva ALSO up and awake, there is every possibility she had gone downstairs for a snack while he was sleeping and then came back up to bed. That would account for the stomach contents being within the relative usual guidelines for what was found in her stomach.

I do have a problem why she didn't say anything once he was already in the toilet and he calls out to her again (supposedly thinking she was still in the bedroom) since they were within feet of each other. That doesn't square with plausibility for me. I'll need to see how that holds up under intense cross-examination that is sure to thoroughly explore that point.

I will be interested to see how much Nel is able to elicit conflicting statements in his testimony. I think it will be a very fine line to walk between examining him and badgering him. It will also be interesting to see how the judge handles that.

Thanks aavi... always nice to read your take.

I'd like to repeat that it is not essential that defence prove anything. Unlike the prosecution, they have no burden to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" It is sufficient for the defence to offer a reasonable alternative to the Prosecution theory of events. An alternative that is PLAUSIBLE is sufficient. The defence have gone way beyond that IMO.. in presenting (through OP's testimony) a version that I for one believe... perhaps not beyond reasonable doubt... I still have doubts... but the point is it is hard over on the wrong side of what I believe as far as the State proving anything.

I am not looking forward to the spectacle of Nel savaging OP. OP is damaged goods, and it is going to be very unpleasant to hear Nel savaging him.
However, as I mentioned, when Nel does that, he will make himself look like a total Jerk... there is that as compensation.

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I think the Mob WILL get their "pound of flesh". Nel will savage OP.

Oscar will be upset and made to trip over details. Oscar will cry. Oscar will moan. Oscar will vomit.

But after all that I do not think it will help the prosecution case at all. It may even help the defence if it engenders more sympathy for Oscar in the Judge's eyes.

What it will do is confirm that Nel is a nasty petulant little man.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Apparently it's getting better Joni, but you're right.

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Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov

I have said it before, and I'll say it again. I have high hopes for seeing Justice beeing done by a system where the Judge decides rather than a Jury.

It seems recent trials that I have watched (in USA) have been too heavily effected by matters related to juries. I simply hope there is a better alternative... at least shown somewhere once would be a start.

Problems with Juries include:
Jury selection. It has become a mini-trial in itself, with expert called in and days of quetioning etc.
Contamination - Clearly there are media conferences and leaks of evidence etc which can and do effect the jury pool
RACE and other biases - It seems to play a role. If a white defendant is accused of killing a black "victim" (for instance.. then racial mix of jury becomes a huge concern. That seems to concede that juries will decide based on race rather than evidence.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I agree with you in regard to the jury system, specifically in the USA. The jury system and selection in the UK is entirely different, despite this, I much prefer the use of a judge.

OP is hesitating a lot this morning, but I think this is because his support team have, probably,. been helping him with a form of breathing techniques designed to relax him.

I hope he can give his evidence more composed today - for his sake.

I have to take my car to garage later so hope I don't miss too much.

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Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov

Excellent move by Roux to mention State witnesses NOT called by the State. A woman crying is not the same as a woman screaming or shouting, immediate neighbours didn't hear such screams!
We can see what Roux is trying to do. The Judge is paying a great deal of attention to all of this.

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Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov

Hi Wroughead

I think Roux did well. A good place to end.

I still am cringing just thinking about Nel.

I went off him in a big way with his petulant cross-examination of the first witness... if he is a complete asshole when he has a go at OP... I could start to hate him

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Nel is an asshole... it's official.

this IS character evidence... it was not even attempted to be presented as part of State case ... it would have been disallowed... this is a cheap ploy.. and an ambush as Roux says.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

If this is allowed then why not any old news report? They are often exaggerations at the very least... often using false information.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

But as I opined previously... this is all just a sideshow... it is proving what an asshole Nel is, but not proving anything relevant to the case. The time line makes the State version impossible.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I agree with all of your posts above Rumpy - I've just moved back upstairs, as I have to get ready shortly to take my car to the garage for its service, so may have to use catchup later on.

I won't repeat myself because you've already stated my case about Nel too. This should not be allowed. I just went over to WildAbout Trials to see what commentaries or tweets by journalists etc are being made, though they're not all journalists, honestly, I wonder if some of these people realize this is NOT AN AMERICAN Trial, their comments anger me, about rebuttal evidence at the rebuttal stage of the trial, and some of the things they are saying are so ridiculous I won't even repeat them.

I think it's time this trial was brought to its natural head, without giving too much time to the machinations of Nel, other than judicially, he should have. I have my doubts that Oscar can stand up to this type of interrogation and mischief, although his psychological team, will have been trying to help him in this area, and trying to keep him as composed as possible during some of these breaks.

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Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov

I just posted elsewhere to try and give a reality check... if they are happy with a Skye news report introduced by prosecution.. then why not any "news" report... Clips from Nancy Grace shown to prove the next US case.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Yes I agree. Oh but not Nancy Grace, I swear I don't know how that woman still has a show, I won't watch her, principally because I don't think she's good, also I loathe being shouted at, I don't know why US talk show hosts like this have to feel the need to shout at their audiences, why don't the public complain - would be my next question?

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Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov

An interesting comment Ii saw yesterday elsewhere which is one of the few that was even halfway sensible, was why didn't OP employ security men at his house, instead of arming himself.

For me the reply to that qeustion is straightforward, namely, the same could be said of his neighbours, also in a country like SA how would you be sure you could trust said guards - which I thinknis the main reason.

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Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov

Nel is still a nasty man... but as the day ended he was FINALLY questioning about the correct issues.

Conceding that OP believed there was an intruder..... did he fire intentionally... taking OP to task over his answer that it was "an accident"

I do fear that this is only temporary moment of clarity from Nel... tomorrow he will be back to arguing that OP knew Reeva was in the toilet

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

A prediction:

I see a lot of WE LOVE NEL posts.....

I bet you that if (when) the result that the mob expect is not forthcoming... they will turn on Nel in an instant and it will be his fault for not presenting the case properly, since the mob will remain convinced of OP's guilt

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I don't think this case has gone the way Nel thought it would prior to it actually getting to court. Nonetheless, I think the judge will do the right thing when she deliberstes over all the evidence, and returns a verdict of not guilty of murder, but since Reeva's life was taken by and admitted to by OP, guilty of a lesser charge.

I do, however, have other concerns with the judge herself! Several times throughout this trial she has asked for clarification on certain ponts, or certsin things thst have been said, or asked. Things that wrre perfectly clesr and understandable

_________________
Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well~Peter Ustinov