Oscar Pistorius sentenced for murder

No I am not saying it was the wrong., I have no access to his medical files. All I am saying is I cannot agree with the views expressed here - he put on an act, walking on his amputated legs was sickening etc. He may have no remorse, he may have deep remorse, i don't know, no one does . He has been judged in a court of law for the crime , I think it wrong to judge him on his disability or his ability to overcome it to the extent he has . I have thought about what may have brought about the tragedy but I don't know

By the way, there is nothing unusual about successful children supporting their parents financially in a country where there is no social welfare system. So it would not be unusual for the late Reeva to have been sending her parents money.

I haven't been actively involved in any (though I don't know what that's got to do with anything) and I would say there have been far too many sadly Anniebach. For me the miscarriage of justice in this case is the lenient sentence he's received.

So you're saying then that the murder conviction was wrong.

Smileless, how many miscarriages of justice in this country have you been actively involved in?

Smileless, if I judge him and sentence him as you and others here have done I will say manslaughter and hospital not prison . Because the man has become a successful athlete it doesn't mean he is not a damaged man. Many people who kill are damaged

Yes Anniebach "she was shot, he fired the gun", but he said he didn't know she was in the bathroom and I don't believe him and neither did the court. She wasn't just shot, she was shot several times. Do you think his murder conviction was wrong?

Smileless , no it doesn't prove his explantation is true or not. She was shot, he fired the gun, this is all I know it true

Staggering that a in SA asentence of 6 years for murdering your partner yet another gets 77 years for killing a rhino.. I despair. !

Doesn't the fact that he's at last been found guilty of her murder show that his explanation isn't true Anniebach?

Smile less, you may not believe his explanation but you do not know if it is true or not

I don't believe his explanation Anniebach. Why would someone investigate a noise in their home during the night, taking a loaded gun and not find out where their partner was before firing?

Surely instinctively he'd have checked to see if she was sleeping beside him? According to him, he started firing at the locked bathroom door, no warning issued? 'Tell me who you are or I'm going to fire'!!!

I don't know why he murdered his girlfriend but it's clear to me that he used his disability to illicit sympathy from the court.

He's been found guilty of her murder as he should have been unfortunately the sentence doesn't fit the crime.

Jane, I think as you do .

Smileless, you say only the parents know their reasons for the photo shoot, how come this isn't the same for Pistorius , you seem to know everything about his reasons for evything he does.

Sadly that seems very true Ab.
Over here its possible to get very short sentences for killing people if you do it in your car!
Basically you can't compare the criminal justice system and its outcomes with that in SA. Things are just too different. Unless you subscribe to the old Testament view of course. An eye for an eye etc.
Oscar will have an appalling time in jail. He's already been ill treated by prison staff and has now been threatened with gang rape. No wonder his Clinical Psychologist -a professor from CT university - said that he was so mentally unwell that he should be admitted to hospital. Take a broader view Grans -its a ghastly tragedy all round. 2 lives as they knew it are gone.

They have my sympathy for the loss of their daughter, I think the photo shoots were in bad taste and no tribute to their daughter, they also wrote a book . Seems she was a meal ticket before and after death

Good point Jalima about the photo shoot for 'Hello'. Only they know their reasons for agreeing to that and for taking money from their daughter's killer.

It's difficult to speculate what their motivations were, perhaps they thought she was being forgotten in all the publicity being given to Pistorius but whatever their reasons, they deserve our sympathy for the brutal murder of their daughter and he deserves our revulsion for his crime.

Perhaps they did that so that they could give him back the money which they said they would return - every cent?

She was supporting them with monthly payments before she was killed I think; who knows if they were desperate for money to live on.

Not on,y dud the parents accept money from the man who killed their daughter, they did a photo shoot for Hello magazine , on the beach where they had scattered her ashes,seems it was a very special place , !

The black murderers of Annie Dewani (a Swedish woman of Indian background) got 18 years, 25 years and life respectively (the one who got life died in gaol).

I can't help but wonder what the sentence would have been if he'd been a young black man, whether or not he was disabled.

Maybe his little performance was at the suggestion of his defense team but he didn't have to agree to it did he, still it seems to have had the desired effect.

gononsuch

If you're a white man and you murder a white women, you get 6 years. If you're a white man and you murder a black women you get a job in government. That' what SA is like.

That statement makes no sense at all, South Africa has a majority black government, so why would someone who murders a black woman get a job in government...

South Africans

Pistorius sent some money to Reeva's parents for a while after her murder; they have vowed to pay back everything, but they were destitute at the time. They refused a lump sum 'blood money' and their lawyer refused money Pistorius put in her account.
Presumably rich, privileged Soth Africans still think they can buy their way out of trouble.

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/14/reeva-steenkamp-parents-payments-oscar-pistorius

I am not a flog 'em and hang 'em person but I believe the sentence is too lenient, as do many women's rights groups in SA.

Life in closed and gated communities is a fact in SA for the wealthy. My sister in law lives like this for much of the year and thinks very little of it now. For those of us visiting it feels pretty grim and dangerous but, like everything, we adapt to our environment.

Jane10 says:
I was shocked there to find that my DD and her husband slept in what was basically what amounted to a cage- a steel grill at the door and windows. Security guards, razor wire and locked compounds abound.

But of course we don't live there, and those that do, don't seem to feel the same way about it. It's just a necessity. If asked, they shrug and say they'd rather it was different but then just get on with life.

These things, the razor wire etc are nothing to do with the 6 years I feel.
I believe this short sentence comes entirely from his privileged status.

Totally devastated at this sentence and her family must be a100tmes so. You never know with S.A. if bribery and corruption were involved.
I hope he is never ever able to be involved in athlectics.
Despicable man should rot in hell when his time comes.