Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murder

[Workingman]

Thanks for the earlier info Ria.

Common-law murder looks like the one to have gone for. Pistorius is comfortable with guns and is a good shot. The four shots he fired were all torso shots, and they are the ones we were taught to use with a pistol/revolver in the RAF. Pistorius was not aiming to incapacitate someone, he was shooting to kill. If he was aiming to incapacitate or frighten someone he would have shot towards the bottom of the door.

I see the police went for a 'belt and braces' approach with the Discharging a weapon and Illegal possession of ammunition charges.

I wonder if the Steencamps have the option of an appeal against the sentence if it is too lenient?

[tonicha]

As a slight aside, a very good friend was murdered a few years ago, in Johannesburg.

When he was over here, he told us that he always, but always carried a gun in his car, as did his wife,

And he had quite a few guns at home.

He said it was a normal life.

[victor]

speaking to a cafe owner here ,Madeiran but been living in S.A for years .returned here because she said while stopped at traffic lights in S.A. a coloured man smashed her side window ,thrust in a gun and said -give me your bag white bitch.she did and he ran off.
she went home and said -were leaving S.A. on the first possible plane

a former work colleag8ue had a sister & b.in.l in S.A. who permanently kept a pistol & rifle in their car

[meriad]

As a slight aside, a very good friend was murdered a few years ago, in Johannesburg.

When he was over here, he told us that he always, but always carried a gun in his car, as did his wife,

And he had quite a few guns at home.

He said it was a normal life.

it totally is a very normal life Ton; we never had guns in our house and I think we were one of the few families. These days you still never stop at a red traffic light at night unless of course there is a car in front of you, you treat them as a yield. You always drive with doors locked and windows closed.

Houses all have security grills in front of windows and doors and if you're out the back then the front is firmly locked up and vice versa. Most houses have sleeping and living quaters separated with a security door as well. And in all honesty these days you're very lucky if you don't know of someone that hasn't been burgled or car jacked

Make no mistake; SA is probably one of the most beautiful countries to visit - it really is stunning but living there. A lot of my friends have moved back there and are very happy but personally I love the fact that here in the UK I can actually leave my back door unlocked and wide open and not worry (admittedly the property is fenced and the side gate is locked but still). The type of crime here is so different to there

[debih]

I have just been listenng to some of the summing up, live on BBC breakfast.

She's making it sound like he's going to get off Scott free!

[meriad]

he's been found guilty of manslaughter - there is no way they couldn't have found him guilty of that!

Will be interesting to see what the sentence will be - I suspect 5 years

[Kaz]

Me too Debih - 5 years would be a joke

[Kaz]

I have a funny feeling he will walk free today, for whatever reason can be souped up

[meriad]

Kaz, he can't walk free. He's too high profile and if he does then the justice system in SA will be laughing stock of the world.

He'll either be hit with a 15 year sentence (which I think is max they can give for manslaughter) to make an example of him or they'll give him a paltry 5 year sentence and he'll be out after 1 year with another year or so being done as 'house arrest' or something like that.

But they COULDN'T find him guilty of either of the two possible murder charges; the evidence just wasn't there.

[meriad]

Just read that the sentence won't be passed for another couple of week - why?????

But the BBC article says legal experts are expecting a sentence between 7 - 10 years