Since I, unfortunately, never finished off my blog series on the Oscar Pistorius trial (due to a plethora of reasons listed in a previous post) I thought I’d do a brief post on my final thoughts. Especially in light of the news this week that the prosecution is appealing the sentence and the charges.
Briefly, Pistorius was charged with culpable homicide and sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison by Judge Masipa for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
The pure fact that #thingslongerthanOscarssentence trended for two days on Twitter after her decision was revealed is fairly representative of how the general public felt about this.
Me? Well, I said from the very beginning that I think the prosecution made a fundamental error in going for a premeditated charge. Doing this meant that they lost the opportunity to make a really focused argument for a crime of passion, which is what I believe her murder was. Various reasons for which can be found in my very first post on the trial: https://bitsbones.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/oscar-pistorius-murder-trial-week-1/.
I do not believe this was a case of culpable homicide, but rather murder in the second degree. The difference between the two being intent. Unfortunately, as a judge, I appreciate Judge Masipa has to look at the evidence, witnesses and legal arguments to make her decision, none of which in this case pointed convincingly enough to murder in the second degree. So, I do believe that she got it right in this aspect.
With regard to the sentencing, I can’t really comment on how long is long enough because I’m not a legal professional. However, I do believe that Pistorius could serve 10 months or he could serve 10 years, either way his life is ruined. It would be a disturbing move for him to return to professional sport and realistically who is going to hire him? His best bet is to make money from movie and book deals, an autobiography and documentaries. None of which I believe will provide any satisfaction apart from that of monetary value. While this will never be enough, it is justice in some form.
The trial was long and drawn out, but I do believe there is much time left until people stop talking about the events surrounding the 14th February 2013.
Bits and bones 