The Oscar Pistorius trial.

Perks said:

Well, I read up on today's testimony. Oscar's flailing a bit. The security system in his house and his inattention to the particulars of it, and his only mild interest in the general security of the neighborhood don't fit very well with the paranoid picture they've painted of him.

It also seems strange that he would suffer burglaries and not report them. At least, that would be very uncommon here in the US. Gail, what do you think of that line of questioning?

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I think the prosecutor is doing a great job of uncovering the lie that Pistorius was terrified of crime and thus panic-stricken on the night in question. It's stupid not to call the police if your home has been broken into. Even though there is not a good chance of the thieves being caught after they've gotten away with your goods, the very fact that there was a house-breaking is important for the police to know. They use the crime stats of the area to see where the criminals are most active and can thus add extra patrols to the area, which they can't do if they don't know about it.

When we've had break-ins, as with the one this week, the police have walked around the property with us and pointed out where we could increase security - and they have put on extra patrols as well.

All these unreported incidents that Pistorius claims to have had cannot be proven because, since he didn't report them, the police have to record of them. Thus leaving us to wonder if they every happened at all.

cornflake said:

I didn't see anything about that - the guy needs a cheat sheet for his lies.

I saw a little bit of the trial earlier and the prosecutor is hilarious and awesomely relentless. It was just on and on, asking over and over why Pistorious, if he was trying to protect Steenkamp and presumably himself, who was unstable without his legs on, would rush AT where he believed intruders to be barricaded instead of, you know, grabbing her and getting out of the house, or any other non-horror-movie choice.

He also just hammered and hammered at why, exactly, burglars would open the window, climb into the bathroom, and then slam the door, shutting themselves in there and waking up the people in the bedroom.

Then he went on to the screams heard by the neighbours and Pistorious couldn't even keep himself to a straight answer one sentence to the next. Pistorious said there was no scream from the bathroom after he'd fired the gun. The prosecutor said the neighbours heard a woman scream. Pistorious insisted there was no scream at all - he was all 'I assure you...' because the gunshots were so loud he couldn't even hear himself. Then, the prosecutor pointed out, you couldn't have heard the screams? There weren't any screams, Pistorious insisted. The neighbours heard screaming - that wasn't her, he said.

OJ has no idea how Nicole's blood got splashed about the inside of his car, or his bedroom, or his socks, but it wasn't because he stabbed her or anything.

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I find it intriguing how all the inconsistencies in Pistorius' story are surfacing now. At times one wonders what the point is behind the minutiae and then...wham... Pistorius trips himself up. Gerrie Nel, the prosecutor, is really getting under Oscar's skin and riling him and we're seeing more and more of the other side of the sobbing, "heartbroken" icon.

Lady MacBeth said:

I remember reading that after the neighbour arrived at the house to assist, OP left Reeva for a few minutes and went back inside. I can't help but wonder if he destroyed evidence. Also, does anyone know what happened to the guard dogs he mentioned? Were they at the house?

He is struggling with his answers and it doesn't look good for him.

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Yes, from what I've heard, he did go back upstairs before the doctor and the police arrived. Destroyed evidence? It's possible. I think he had dogs at his previous home. I'm not sure if there was a dog at this home - there hasn't been any mention of it during media discussions but I'll listen out for it and let you know.

Reeva Steenkamps's sister speaks out to the Mail On Sunday about Oscar's lies

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...l-horror-smirking-Bladerunner-face-court.html

The second video, about halfway down the page, is particularly telling. Pistorius is explaining away the damning whatsapp message from Reeva, where she says that he scares her. He states that she was afraid of her feelings for him.

Perks said:

Yeah, I gakked up a little when I read that in the testimony. What an absurd thing to say. Revolting.

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Totally. When he said that, he went from self-serving to completely delusional, imo. Of course, 'delusional' might be what he's aiming at.

RedRajah said:

Here in the US, Investigation Discovery has an interview with Reeva's parents tonight at 9pm EST.

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We get Investigation Discovery here but that interview wasn't on - but that could also be a time zone thing. I'll look out for it, though. Thanks for mentioning it.

frimble3 said:

And, on the 'not calling the police about break-ins' - is he saying that people just broke in and ran away, or that stuff was stolen? Because, here, the insurance companies like to see police reports, just to confirm what you've said about the break-in when you make a claim. Unless nothing was ever taken, and he never filed a claim?
I have no idea how this works over in South Africa.

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It works exactly the same way here. If you have insurance you need to get a case number from the police before you can submit a claim to your insurance company.

In Pistorius' case, he said that he didn't have insurance so he didn't bother calling the police. (Well, that's his story and he's sticking to it - but without a police report, there's no way to verify if he's telling the truth.)

regdog said:

What a fucking twatwaffle.

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Regdog wins the interwebz!!!!

Lady MacBeth said:

I have to agree. Pistorius is being eaten alive by the prosecution.

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Now that Pistorius' cross-examination is over I don't think he did himself any favors on the stand. If anything, I think he made things a lot worse for himself.

I expected that his attorney would take some time in re-examination to try and undo some of the damage, or at least, attempt to contextualize some of his testimony, but no. He spent less than 20 minutes - most of which was spent on a Valentine's Day card that Reeva had given him. The media here are speculating that the witnesses to follow will prove what Pistorius has said. I wish them good luck with that. Today, the prosecutor annihilated a so-called 'expert witness' who was a forensic geologist but was testifying about wound ballistics. (!)

Lady MacBeth said:

I remember reading that after the neighbour arrived at the house to assist, OP left Reeva for a few minutes and went back inside. I can't help but wonder if he destroyed evidence. Also, does anyone know what happened to the guard dogs he mentioned? Were they at the house?

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I did listen out for that, but no mention was made about his going back inside or possibly meddling with evidence. But this trial is far from over, so it may still come up. The neighbor (actually the estate manager) is due to testify next - but that might be some time away as, after tomorrow, court will recess until May 5th. I think you raised a good point so now I'm also curious about what he did when he went back in.

Perks said:

That whole testimony was flat out bizarre. I only read the notes on it and it seemed like Mr. Nel's head was going to explode if this guy testified to one more thing that he wasn't an expert in.

Mr. Dixon seems unacquainted with Newton's Third Law of Motion and that corpses don't heal their bruises overnight.

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I don't think Mr Dixon has even heard of Isaac Newton.

If you only read the notes, here's how he appeared on the stand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa2G5zwoMns
The lip-synch isn't great on this clip, but it does give an idea of how hopelessly inadequate he was on cross examination.

For crying out loud, Dixon is a forensic geologist. I can only conclude that the defense must've had rocks in their heads for even considering him as an 'expert' witness.

Perks said:

That guy Dixon was a disaster. Why in the world did they employ a forensic geologist do work in crime scene reconstruction? I'm so confused. Does the defense team actually hate Oscar and want to lose?

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I think there's no argument that Dixon just blew his career. I think the reason that he was hired by the defense is that, although he has a MSc in geology, he worked for the state forensic laboratory for 18 years during which time he worked on a number of other aspects of forensic science that had pertinence to this case - or so it seemed when he was introduced to the court and he stated his background and experience. He resigned from the state lab 2 years ago (I can't help wondering why) and has been an independent consultant ever since.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but in SA we don't have attorney-client privilege as you do in the US. If, for example, a defendant admitted to his attorney that he was guilty of the crime but entered a plea of not guilty to the court, the attorney would be obliged by law to inform the court of the defendant's admission of guilt. On that basis, Pistorius' defense team have to believe that he's not guilty (- though after his cross-examination I think they may have some serious doubts.) I don't think Pistorius scored any points with them, particularly after he blamed them for why some facts weren't in his original bail application. Still, I doubt any lawyer wants to lose such a high profile case.

rugcat said:

And of course, a defense attorney does not have to convince 12 people that some bizarre theory is true, or even just possible.

Just one.

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In this case, just two.

Ah, yes. The infamous Jani Allan - the ersatz, dethroned, once-queen of South African sensationalist 'journalism', the 'star' of the Sunday Times, who didn't so much fall as plummet earthwards in incandescent splendor. Why am I not surprised that she's tried to insert herself into the Pistorius trial?

But then again, who else could be so intimately familiar with the defendant's bench in a courtroom than Ms Allan? She has it on "high authority"? Really? How convenient that a journalist can't be forced to reveal her source. (And even more so since she fled to the UK.) I suspect that her 'source' is as good as she is - which is not a lot.

And if Pistorius did, in fact, have performance coaching I rather suspect that his coach is a past-master at Victorian melodrama.

Aaaaand we're back.

A surprise by the defense this morning. Everyone expected a continuation of forensic evidence - and possibly someone to counteract the disaster of the previous 'expert' witness but no. The first responder, Johan Stander, manager of the estate, followed by his daughter who was also at the scene. I don't think they said anything to shake the prosecution's case but both painted a graphic picture of Pistorius' horror and grief.

Lady MacBeth said:

I remember reading that after the neighbour arrived at the house to assist, OP left Reeva for a few minutes and went back inside. I can't help but wonder if he destroyed evidence. Also, does anyone know what happened to the guard dogs he mentioned? Were they at the house?

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Finally, today we got an answer. Yes, Pistorius did go upstairs alone, to fetch Reeva's handbag and ID - as requested by the paramedics. According to the testimony given, the estate manager's daughter followed him after a few seconds, because her father said that the gun was upstairs and she was afraid that he would shoot himself. She didn't go into the bedroom but stood at the top of the stairs calling to him. He emerged seconds later with Reeva's handbag. Given the time frame, if he did alter evidence he would have had to have done it very quickly. Personally, it doesn't sound like he was focused much on evidence.

And yes, there was mention of two dogs but they were not guard dogs, just pets and reportedly very friendly and non-aggressive. The estate manager cared for them when OP was away. Where they were during the shooting and after, was not mentioned.