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Posted
He's a rich white man in South Africa. I'd be surprised if he's in there longer than a year.

 

I think he is broke now, from what I can gather.

Posted
He's a rich white man in South Africa. I'd be surprised if he's in there longer than a year.

 

Looks as though he's got no money left now

Posted

No sooner did I make the previous post, than a reporter from the BBC posted the following on Twitter:

 

Just spoke to Barry and June Steenkamp. Both happy with sentence and relieved it is over. Am told Pistorius will be released after 10 months

 

Source

 

He may not be as rich as he was, but he's still white. In South Africa that still goes a long way, unfortunately.

Posted

Well he has to serve 1/6th of his sentence in prison, before he becomes eligible for house arrest. For what it's worth, a lot us here in SA believe he didn't get the full punishment he deserved. A lot of legal people also didn't believe the judge has applied the dolus business correctly and that an appeal had a strong chance of having the verdict overturned and upgraded to manslaughter or murder.

 

Of course, we've all made the Oscar jokes here in our staffroom as well. The trial on TV was eagerly watched by our staff in their free periods...

Posted

If I am correct, South Africa did have juries up until the 60's but they were abolished because of apartheid, and even now it is felt that a jury would possibly convict on skin colour (either way) rather than the actual evidence. I heard a SA prosecutor speaking on Radio 4 the other morning.

I am very surprised that some of you haven't heard of Oscar Pistorius. Even if you don't follow any sort of athletics, the fact that he is the first person to compete against able-bodied athletes is a big deal.

I saw him run in the 4x100m relay at the Olympics and it was amazing.

Posted

Nice to see "Trial by Media" is still alive and well :rolleyes:

 

I actually feel sorry for the guy whilst everyone seems to be baying for his head on a plate. He has lost his girlfriend, his house, his career and effectively his own life in that he now has to live with the fact that he killed her.

 

He has 5 years to serve, he is eligible for what is being referred to as "House Arrest" in around 10 months - this is NOT parole, he is still serving his time, just not in jail.

 

What I find most disturbing is the liberal use of the "not got a leg to stand on" jokes being banded about - Given that he is a double amputee I fail to see the funny side to this, and wonder how people on here would react to such jokes if they themselves had no legs?

Posted
Sorry Gatt - he killed someone. The fact that he did this means, to me, that he doesn't deserve people being sorry for him. So he has to be locked up for a bit, boo hoo. A woman lost her life. A family lost their daughter!
Posted

I still cannot decide if he is guilty of murder or not.

 

Part of me thinks he was telling to truth, but then I ask why did she have her phone with her, why was the toilet door locked, why would you fire before you knew who you were shooting at. Maybe panic, I guess we will never know.

Posted
Sorry Gatt - he killed someone. The fact that he did this means, to me, that he doesn't deserve people being sorry for him. So he has to be locked up for a bit, boo hoo. A woman lost her life. A family lost their daughter!

 

Who are we to judge someone?

 

That is for a court of law to do - and has done so - justice has been served. Whether we agree or disagree with the ruling is irrelevant. For us to continue to judge him makes us no different to being a lynch mob wielding pitch forks vying for someone's head on a plate

 

The Steenkamp family have also accepted the verdict, and we need to as well.

 

Pistorius will have to live with what he has done for the rest of his life - he will be forever playing events over and over in his head wondering why he did it and the endless "What If" scenarios will forever haunt him - to me that is a much tougher sentence than that that could ever be imposed by a court.

Posted
Who are we to judge someone?

 

We are people who have our own moral compasses. We are people who haven't killed someone. We're entitled to our views on justice.

 

That is for a court of law to do - and has done so - justice has been served. Whether we agree or disagree with the ruling is irrelevant. For us to continue to judge him makes us no different to being a lynch mob wielding pitch forks vying for someone's head on a plate

 

Many people are not so sure justice has been served - the court system in SA has been accused of being lenient on white guys many times.

 

The Steenkamp family have also accepted the verdict, and we need to as well.

 

They want the entire ordeal to be over, so it makes sense they would accept the verdict.

 

Pistorius will have to live with what he has done for the rest of his life - he will be forever playing events over and over in his head wondering why he did it and the endless "What If" scenarios will forever haunt him - to me that is a much tougher sentence than that that could ever be imposed by a court.

 

You assume. He might be a great actor. He might simply not care and move on with his life. Who knows?

Posted
I still cannot decide if he is guilty of murder or not.

 

Part of me thinks he was telling to truth, but then I ask why did she have her phone with her, why was the toilet door locked, why would you fire before you knew who you were shooting at. Maybe panic, I guess we will never know.

 

I don't believe he did it deliberately, it was a tragic accident. But it was a tragic accident caused by his own negligence and bravado thinking he could be John McLane in his own house. His past conduct shows he has no respect for firearms and as such is a menace and danger to society who should be in prison for public protection. He certainly shouldn't have access to firearms again once he is out!

Posted
I don't believe he did it deliberately, it was a tragic accident. But it was a tragic accident caused by his own negligence and bravado thinking he could be John McLane in his own house. His past conduct shows he has no respect for firearms and as such is a menace and danger to society who should be in prison for public protection. He certainly shouldn't have access to firearms again once he is out!

 

He doesn't want to own a gun any more and quite happily let the state have all his firearm certificates, etc at the end of the trial

Posted
I don't believe he did it deliberately, it was a tragic accident. But it was a tragic accident caused by his own negligence and bravado thinking he could be John McLane in his own house. His past conduct shows he has no respect for firearms and as such is a menace and danger to society who should be in prison for public protection. He certainly shouldn't have access to firearms again once he is out!

 

I agree. He was also very paranoid with people breaking into his house. That combined with what you said was a lethal cocktail.

Posted
He doesn't want to own a gun any more and quite happily let the state have all his firearm certificates, etc at the end of the trial

 

Which could be genuine remorse, or could be a big show of remorse. Only he knows. Mind you, if he was originally of the opinion that he needed the guns for protection, one would think that he may well them more now. (Lots of angry people out there).

 

Unless he confesses or does an "O.J." people will always have doubts.

Posted
You mean some people still think he's innocent and the book was just a jolly jape?

'The book'? What, the one titled "If I did it"? That sounds like the book reinforces the idea of his innocence to me.. (Haven't actually read it or know much about the OJ case, all I know is a lot of people think he killed his wife and her lover, but he was found innocent, and some people take issue with that)

  • 11 months later...
Posted
I think that's the correct call. I don't understand why someone would get a 5 year sentence and be let out 4 years early. He took a life.
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

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