Oscar Pistorius. The fastest man on no legs. The man whose legs were amputated below his knees when he was only 11 months old and the one who won two gold medals (each time setting new world records) and one silver medal in the Summer Paralympics taking place in London in 2012. Switching on the television these days there's no chance to get past this man. He's everywhere on CNN and BBC. Even though he's been the center of attention several times before, something has changed. One day and one special event have changed the situation and the reason why he's the center of attention again dramatically.
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| source: itnewsafrica.com |
More than one year ago, on February 14, 2013 Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and is now standing trial for murder. Pistorius insists that he mistook Ms. Steenkamp for an intruder in their bathroom, whereas the prosecutor tries to convince the court that Pistorius murdered Steenkamp in a fit of jealous rage. It's possible that nobody except Pistorius himself will ever know what exactly happened in that night and that there will never be an absolute certainty about the reasons why Pistorius fired four shots and mortally wounded his girlfriend.
Following the trial on television with growing interest, I started thinking about it and can hardly stop now. My first reaction to the gruelling cross-examination was a mixture of compassion for the defendant and a number of unanswered questions in my head. There are so many inconsistencies that it's nearly impossible to form an opinion about whether or not Oscar Pistorius is guilty. What exactly means guilty in this case? It's a fact that Pistorius shot Steenkamp. He woke up in the night, heard something from the bathroom and told his girlfriend, who he thought was still lying in bed, to call the police. He then screamed at the mistaken intruders to get out of his house and went into the bathroom, his gun in his hands. The window in the bathroom was open and the door to the toilet closed, so Pistorius, afraid that the intruder(s) might storm out of the toilet and attack him standing on his stumps, fired four shots. Four shots that ended the life of Reeva Steenkamp. At least that's what Pistorius tells the court, his own version of the story.
Chief Prosecutor Gerrie Nel tries everything to paint a different picture of what happened in that night, probing for any inconsistencies in Pistorius' story. There are witnesses who question the sequence of events. One neighbor says she was woken by a woman's "blood-curdling screams" - Reeva's screams. Maybe they had a big row and Reeva fled into the toilet because she was afraid. Another question remaining unanswered is the one about Pistorius' legs. Did he wear them when he went to the bathroom or not? Investigations show that Pistorius might not have worn them due to the height and angle of the bullet entries. Anyway, if he had worn them it would be an evidence for his intention to kill Reeva. And what about the fact that Pistorius didn't realize his girlfriend wasn't in bed? When he told her to call the police he didn't get an answer, or didn't he expect one? Why did he shoot and not wait for the toilet door to open to see who was in there?
So many questions and so many uncertainties. I don't know what to think about this trial, about Pistorius, about whether he's guilty or not. Somehow he is guilty. No matter why he fired the shots that night, how deeply he regrets everything by now, in my opinion there's nothing that could justify murder in this case. Pistorius wasn't attacked, maybe he thought he would have been later, but he wasn't - he shot through a closed door and ended the life of his girlfriend. Of course it's a special situation and no one, neither I, could tell how I would react in such a situation. Nevertheless, Pistorius' reaction was certainly the worst one.
Sources for further information:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/14/oscar-pistorius-trial-live-blog-14-april (live blog of the trial)
