Oscar Pistorius

It does seem odd that not only did he not notice his girlfriend wasn't in bed, but he didn't think to wake her and warn her that someone might be in the house. You surely wouldn't want her suddenly waking up and blundering into the middle of an armed confrontation? The prosecution were suggesting that she had locked the door to keep him out, but I always lock the door out of habit - even if I'm alone in the house. There are so many inconsistencies on both sides!

The defence also said today that Reeva Steenkamp had definitely used the loo because her bladder was empty. If somebody was shooting through a door at me it wouldn't just be my bladder.

But if you knew that someone else was in the house with you, you wouldn't shoot indiscriminately until you'd established where they were, surely? And I would imagine his house was very high security as well. He also said he put his legs on before he went to the bathroom; in a situation where you think you've shot your girlfriend you'd drag yourself across the room with adrenalin taking over I would have thought.

Yikes! I'm thankful to be living in peaceful, friendly, let's-support-each-other Kintyre.

Soop South Africans assume that an intruder in their house is armed, so few would shout a warning and call the police. Those sort of offences are so common and the police can take hours to arrive.

When we lived in Durban, there was a break in at the (vacant) house next door and my husband actually sprinted across and caught the burglar (we heard the glass breaking) and shouted at me over the fence to call the police, which I did, and the police asked me whether I could come and fetch them because they only had one police vehicle and it was out on a call.

I think that OP has a very weak defence and it is very, very sad.

j08 it could happen that you would shoot an intruder more than once in South Africa, it happens all the time. I doubt anyone on here has actually experienced the sort of fear you feel when you think someone is in your house in the dead of night. (Not saying that is what happened in this case).

Mishap the police officer is under suspicion of seven attempted murders, he shot into a minibus (taxi) full of people (not that that makes it any better).

South Africa would never have seen anything like this level of global interest, they wouldn't have a clue how to deal with it and that shows.

Here's a report from a local journalist attempting to balance things out: www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2013-02-15-511d7a34e8efb/

Been thinking ...if Oscar believed that a burglar was locked in the lavvy, why didn't he yell that he was armed, wait outside the door and call the police. And, how come that he didn't notice that his lady friend was not in the bed beside him? .

When news of this killing first came out, my OH said straight away - bet he was on testosterone to enhance his performance (athletic of course) - it looks as though he may be right.

Apparently the police officer is under suspicion of SEVEN murders!!!

I can't see how they can ever obtain any real evidence as to whether he thought it was an intruder or he meant to kill his girlfriend. I think all they will be able to get him for is manslaughter. I wouldn't think you would be allowed to shoot an intruder three times, even in South Africa.

And the latest news is that the police officer in charge of the investigation is himself under investigation for murder!

Their court procedures sound very foreign to us. And the way the police have leaked released details - sometimes later proved inaccurate - wouldn't be countenanced here. Or would it!

Oooh j08 I am sure ive no idea what you mean(he he). How naughty.

No. Tbh I don't reckon he's got a leg to stand on.

I think it's only this country that doesn't allow photos of the Court proceedings to be shown in the media, Tegan. (There may be others, of course, but obviously SA isn't one of them!).

I was surprised to see photos of him in court; I thought the news media only ever showed drawings before? I have to say that, from what I've heard the 'thinking it was a burglar' story doesn't make sense.

No not really. It's just been very different and very enlightening. I must admit before I started following it all on twitter (as directed by my son!) I was a tad hesitant. But Barry Bateman has been so good just reporting the facts with seemingly no axe to grind for either side. Very good reporting with salient facts in 140 characters. A whole new world is opening up it seems to me. But of course completely different laws in this country.

You don't think it's a bit ghoulish to follow it that closely? Like being a spectator at a car crash.

Has anyone been following the tweets of Barry Bateman on twitter about Oscar pistorious? He is a news reporter in South Africa.

He is actually in the court and tweeting as evidence is produced and witnesses called. Absolutely fascinating. This is just a bail hearing but it is an open court and anything is admissible, or so I understand.

His tweets deliver just the facts as the "trial" goes along. When you go on the BBC and the Sky websites they seem so out of date and at variance at what is actually happening in court.

I'd heard it on the radio, jingle. Media you see!

Marelli - I know about his legs and how he was born without tibia bones.

Guess what. I've got a computer and I read newspapers on it.

Of course.

But at the end of the day being disabled is not a shield against the law and if he is found to have committed this crime he has to take his punishment.

Sure - it's all speculation at the moment.

I read an interesting article about how difficult it is to control 'trial by media', since there are social forums like this one, Twitter, etc. and also that people no longer want facts, they want context. In fact, it is impossible to stop. But it is all speculation until the trial.

But he may have been wearing his prosthetics, though? Of course, if he wasn't, then I should imagine he might feel vulnerable if he really thought it was an intruder. We don't know anything though.
She may have been standing right behind the bathroom door and that's why she was so badly injured.

I think it is fair to say that a double amputee may (or even would) feel vulnerable without their prosthetics, no matter how fit they are, or how much time they have spent in that state.

I know that Heather Mills-McCartney has spoken of - and she is also fit - that feeling of being vulnerable without her prosthetic leg (and her then husband not being very sympathetic).