Oscar Pistorius held his head in his hands and wept openly in court Friday as prosecutors said they would pursue a charge of premeditated murder against the Paralympic superstar.
Pistorius was formally charged at Pretoria Magistrate's Court with one count of murder after his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a model and budding reality TV show participant, was shot multiple times and killed at Pistorius' upmarket home in the predawn hours of Thursday.
A statement released after the court appearance by Pistorius' family and his management denied the charges.
"The alleged murder is disputed in the strongest terms," the statement, issued from London, read. It also said that Pistorius "would like to send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva."
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said Friday in court it was premeditated murder, indicating the prosecution would file that more serious charge, upgraded from murder.
This shooting happened in South Africa and not here in the United States, but it is still a very sad indication of how owning a gun makes a domestic conflict suddenly deadly. Somehow I don't think that the guy with no legs was nearly as dangerous to this young woman as a man with access to a gun.
This from The Sun:
The 26-year-old athlete was known to sleep with a pistol next to his bed, a machine gun by a window, with cricket and baseball bats behind the door.
Double amputee Pistorius explained how his disability made him especially vulnerable to an attack. He told one interviewer: “When I’m in bed and don’t have my legs on, I know there’s nothing I can do if someone breaks in.”
You know as a double amputee it might be reasonable to understand how this man could feel helpless, but it was not like he was totally unprotected:
His sprawling mansion in Pretoria is surrounded by wired fencing, 10ft high walls and cameras while guards patrol the grounds.
At first some suggested that perhaps Pistorius had killed his girlfriend by accident, but the facts did not support that theory:
When South African police were called to an upmarket gated community in Pretoria, the address was familiar to them. It was not the first time they had been summoned to the home of one of the world's most recognisable athletes, Oscar Pistorius, to deal with domestic disputes.
What they found this time was the dead body of his girlfriend. Reeva Steenkamp had been shot three times in the head and torso with a 9mm handgun.
Shot three times in the head and torso? Well I guess he showed the world what a man he was. Didn't he?
And here in America the number of gun deaths since Newtown are edging up on 1900. But remember, guns make us safer.
Well at least that's what they keep telling us.
Yes, he accidentally shot her -- four times. It reminds me of a local incident when a man claimed his wife committed suicide. She was shot in the head - twice.
ReplyDeleteThis is more than a gun issue. This is also a violence against women issue. More wives, exwives,girlfriends and ex girlfriends are more likely to die by the hands of a man they have been intimate with than a stranger.
ReplyDelete"Three times in the head. Well I guess he showed the world what a man he was. Didn't he?"
ReplyDeleteThis isn't what a man does. This was the act of a deranged paranoid (schizophrenic) person of the male gender...
If my ex-husband had been a gun owner I would not have lived to raise my 2 sons by myself, and there certainly were no living relatives in a position to raise them.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, all women must have some sort of an exit plan. You do not know what the future holds and without support for an escape, if it were to become necessary, you can be doomed.
It does not matter if your spouse or significant other is the "upstanding icon of the community" and comes from a wonderful background or is wealthy or, or, or, even years cohabiting with them can find you in a situation where they turn violent for no apparent reason.
I know, and though I escaped, after the police told my son who called for help, "It is a domestic quarrel, Sonny, and they will work it out,"
a woman needs means to be self sufficient.
Leaving doesn't end it as you will be stalked, again it was to my advantage that he was not gun savvy nor did he own one at the time.
VAWA for the American female is a must!!! Republicans, stow your hatred toward women for a moment - long enough to pass the damned bill!
I hear you! Even if a person was not physically violent before once they do they will do it again. The "upstanding icon of the community" will be setting up their human punching bag as the crazy wife to control their image.
DeleteWhen you call for help the first question is are their guns or a gun in the house!
Murdoch's mag "The Sun" stoops to new low...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/the-sun-pistorius-steenkamp-front-page-disgusting_n_2693803.html?utm_hp_ref=media
"What they found this time was the dead body of his girlfriend. Reeva Steenkamp had been shot three times in the head and torso with a 9mm handgun."
ReplyDeleteThree times in the head and torso isn't three times in the head. Could have been once in the head and twice in the torso or twice in the head and once in the torso ... not that it'd make a big difference in the outcome.
She was shot four time.
DeleteSouth Africa has very restrictive gun laws compared the the US. No civilian ownership of semi-auto or handguns of any kind without a special license, owners have to have a competency certificate and show the reason they need the gun, provide a reference, mandatory requalification,limits on 200 bullets, no private sales, mandatory registration of all guns, penalties of up to 15 years for violations.
ReplyDeleteAnd it worked so well for Reeva.
DeleteO/T: Ratzinger resigned for a reason!
ReplyDelete"We knew something had to be up with the resignation of Pope Benedict. After all, Popes don’t just resign; in fact, this is the first time a Pope has resigned in 600 years. Therefore, the hoopla surrounding this is more than understandable. However, as per usual with the Catholic Church, there seems to be a catch, and, lo and behold, it likely surrounds the infamous abuse scandals that have plagued the church’s image for so long."
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/14/pope-allegedly-sought-immunity-for-abuse-crimes-just-before-resigning/
Here is another scandal that was long brewing. Ugly ugly. Ratzi the Nazi Pope knew they were losing this effort to keep the secrets. Ratzi the Nazi had his own hands on this. Read the link.
Deletehttp://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/belief/pope-benedict-legion-christ-scandal
"Documents released today by a Rhode Island judge provide a new window into the internal workings of the disgraced Legion of Christ, a religious order of priests whose founder was revealed to have sexually abused seminarians and fathered children by at least two women.
The release of the voluminous court records by Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein came within days of the stunning resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, who ordered an investigation into allegations against Legion founder Fr. Marcial Maciel when Benedict played a powerful prosecutorial role in the Vatican as a cardinal and again in the early years of his papacy."
This guy was the man in SA. Usually the Springboks, the SA rugby team, own the headlines. But Eric was worldwide. His girlfriend had a big heart. She was not a mere ¨aspiring reality star.¨ She was an advocate against, among many things, domestic violence.
ReplyDeleteThis was not the first time neighbors called in a ¨domestic disturbance¨ call to the police.
Rumors in SA say she was trying to hide from him in the bathroom, where he shot her death.
All I know is Oscar is making Lance Armstrong look like an angel.
Did he have his legs on and cornered her in the bathroom? I understand it was 3:00 a.m., so why did he have his legs on?
Delete19,000? or 1,900? I think you made a mistake with your statistic.
ReplyDeleteI really think we don't need guns. Maybe long guns for hunting. Really. Collect them all, melt them down, and turn them into park benches, and plows, shovels and solar panels. We don't need to overthrow the government anymore, that's what elections are for. Back then, the colonists didn't have that option. We do.
Good comment.
DeleteI've read a few other reports and I think this guy is paranoid. Paranoia and an arsenal? Not a good combo.
ReplyDeleteHis girlfriend was apparently sneaking in to surprise hi at 3 am.
3am?
The guy wakes up from a sound sleep at three am to see a figure?. I'm sure he grabbed his gun and kept shooting until that figure went down.
I'll hold my judgement until all the facts come out.
Just saying this guy is being tried in the media but what facts are and are not being released and how those facts are being presented. Not to mention speculation and opinion being mixed in.
She was shot in the bathroom. She was not shot sneaking in the house.
Deletewww.businessinsider.com/report-oscar-pistorius-girlfriend-shot-through-bathroom-door-2013-2
Delete"The gruesome details of the shooting raise doubts about the plausibility of the mistaken identity theory. Steenkamp was shot four times in the head, hand, chest, and pelvis, police say. Beeld reports that she was shot through a bathroom door."
Police were at the house 2 hours BEFORE the shooting, called by neighbors...
Mr. Adrenaline Testosterone Tourettes trigger finger shot his girlfriend through a bathroom door three shots in the head, one in the torso. What possible threat did she have after the first bullet hit her? This isn't self defense, it's first degree murder.
DeleteHow did he get from the bed to the door without his legs while carrying a gun and ammo?
Damn, so happy he felt safe with a gun by his bed. Had he gotten a dog this whole thing may have had a different ending.
I don't think anyone would "sneak" in to plan on surpring a sleeping bilateral amputee who had a shitload of weapons in the bedroom.
DeleteConservative Hypocrites Would be Outraged if the Left Made a Panda Sex Video About Sarah Palin
ReplyDeleteImagine if a liberal PAC made a video in which they had female employees dress up as a panda and Sarah Palin, and the panda was simulating performing oral sex on Sarah Palin. Imagine if they made this video for a conference. Oh, boy.
Now flip that around and stop imagining, because this is real. FreedomWorks, the conservative group also behind the opposition to the Violence Against Women Act, reportedly made such a video about a panda and Hillary Clinton. It was to play at FreePAC, a FreedomWorks conference.
...Yeah, nothing is as funny as degrading your female employees by forcing them to perform cinematic oral sex so you can play it for your allegedly Christian conservative audience. And they wonder why liberals say there is a Republican war on women…
Conservatives for Palin see this as just another opportunity to demonstrate the unfairness of the media, since they claim Palin was treated so much worse (thus they wasted not a word on how this might be inappropriate). To prove how unfair the world is, they cited the Nailin Paylin video:
http://www.politicususa.com/liberal-pac-video-panda-performing-oral-sex-sarah-palin-outrage-deafening.html
Gryphen, why does your headline above refer to Ms. Steenkamp only as his possession, his "girlfriend" without her own agency or identity? SHE HAS A NAME.
ReplyDeletehttp://frothydragon.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/hernamewasreevasteenkamp-this-is-a-story-of-male-violence-lets-remember-the-victim/
Wow, I'd never heard of this guy before but it sure sounds like he may have planned to kill his girlfriend. Guess it pays well to be a track star in South Africa?
ReplyDelete