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Confusion over Pistorius's cop shop check-in

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ck-in-20130225

Quote:

Pretoria - There seems to be some confusion as to whether Oscar Pistorius does indeed have to present himself at the Brooklyn police station, a report said on Monday.

Eyewitness News said it had been told by a National Prosecuting Authority official that it was not a requirement of bail.

Despite the State and defence agreeing that the paralympian should present himself at the police station, this is not specified in Pistorius’s bail order.

Police officials have also been trying to establish the details of the order from the prosecuting authority, EWN said.

Arnold Pistorius, the sprinter’s uncle, was however spotted driving past the police station earlier on Monday.

Yet another cock-up ..... :conf:

On Friday :

1442: Magistrate Desmond Nair has set bail conditions - Mr Pistorius must deposit 1m rand (£73,823) in cash and guarantees, he must hand over his passport, avoid his home in Pretoria and report to a police station between 07:00 and 13:00 every Monday and Friday.

Oscar Pistorius NOT required to report to police

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/os...e-court-335281

Quote:

Pretoria: Star athlete Oscar Pistorius, who has been charged with murdering his girlfriend, does not have to report to police as part of his bail terms contrary to previous reports, a clerk at Pretoria Magistrate Court clerk said on Monday.

"It is not part of his bail conditions," the clerk told AFP.

The bail order document seen by AFP confirmed it was not one of the terms.

The 26-year-old double amputee athlete known as the "Blade Runner" was released on a one million rand ($112,408) bond on Friday.

He was expected to report to the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Monday morning, where a large contingent of local and international media were waiting, but did not turn up.

Earlier reports had said that Pistorius had to sign in at the police station on Mondays and Fridays between 0500 GMT and 1100 GMT.

But the condition had been a suggestion from defence and prosecution teams that the magistrate, Desmond Nair, had not included in his final order, a prosecution official confirmed.

"The NPA (National Prosecuting Authority) has confirmed that the condition that he report to the Brooklyn police station has not been made an order of court," the official told AFP.

So, did the magistrate say one thing and do another or did the whole world's press get it wrong ..... :puzzled:

Has there been a deal .....

Pistorius May Ask to Ease Bail Conditions, Lawyer Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...wyer-says.html

Quote:

Feb 25, 2013 8:57 AM GMT.
Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee track star charged with the murder of his girlfriend, is considering asking the court to ease bail conditions that include reporting to police twice a week, his lawyer Kenny Oldwage said.

“He just really wants to get on with his life,” Oldwage said by phone today.

:suspect:

Oscar Pistorius reports to authorities under bail conditions

http://www.startribune.com/world/192839161.html

Quote:

JOHANNESBURG - A spokeswoman for Oscar Pistorius says he has reported to authorities in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, under the bail terms in the murder case against him.

Lunice Johnston said Monday that the double-amputee Olympic athlete visited correctional officers, but she did not specify their location in the city.

So, is the deal so that he can avoid the press?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omah (Post 5856095)

Pistorius May Ask to Ease Bail Conditions, Lawyer Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...wyer-says.html

Quote:

Feb 25, 2013 8:57 AM GMT.
Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee track star charged with the murder of his girlfriend, is considering asking the court to ease bail conditions that include reporting to police twice a week, his lawyer Kenny Oldwage said.

“He just really wants to get on with his life,” Oldwage said by phone today.

:suspect:

FFS! What an unfeeling git he is. He doesn't seem to comprehend the seriousness of what he has done, or doesn't want to, and the thing is he will probably get away with it :mad:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suze (Post 5856156)

FFS! What an unfeeling git he is. He doesn't seem to comprehend the seriousness of what he has done, or doesn't want to, and the thing is he will probably get away with it :mad:

Well, he's already getting preferential treatment ..... :suspect:

I doubt that he would be allowed such freedom if he were a black athlete, limbless or not ..... :hmph:

Well the chief magistrate who made the decision is himself black so I can't imagine race was a determining factor in his decision..

I don't think it's a case of racial bias more hero worship, I think some think she threw herself in front of those bullets... :idc:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omah (Post 5856166)

Well, he's already getting preferential treatment ..... :suspect:

I doubt that he would be allowed such freedom if he were a black athlete, limbless or not ..... :hmph:

What a stupid thing to say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother Leon (Post 5856181)

What a stupid thing to say.

Who are you calling stupid?

:conf:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTVN (Post 5856170)

Well the chief magistrate who made the decision is himself black so I can't imagine race was a determining factor in his decision..

Really ..... :rolleyes:

Yes, really :rolleyes: it seems like you're just making these unfounded claims because you're bitter that there's room for doubt that he didn't actually intend to kill his girlfriend

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTVN (Post 5856206)

Yes, really :rolleyes: it seems like you're just making these unfounded claims because you're bitter that there's room for doubt that he didn't actually intend to kill his girlfriend

Really ..... :rolleyes:

I thought I was criticing the SA judicial system ..... :pipe:

This is what happens to white men who ARE jailed before court proceedings in SA :

Businessman Tells of South African Prison Rape that Left Him HIV Positive

Quote:

Sean Smith, a business partner of rugby star Gareth Thomas, said he was attacked up to eight times a day during his 19-month stay in St Alban’s jail after his arrest on suspicion of a multi-million-pound fraud.

The 42-year-old, was targeted in a cell he shared with 90 inmates in 2007.

‘They did it not just as part of gang dominance but in my case it was showing supremacy over a white man—I was the only one there,’ he said.

‘It went on for months—there wasn’t much left of me by then anyway . . . I was pretty much a skeleton.’

After nine months in the jail 30km (17 miles) out of Port Elizabeth, Mr Smith tested positive for HIV.

‘At that point I didn’t give a damn, I was broken, I was broken physically, mentally, I had nothing left I had no spirit at all so I didn’t care,’ he added.

After being granted bail, Mr Smith, from Glamorgan, South Wales, hid in the boot of a British High Commission car and crossed into Lesotho.

He has since been diagnosed with a lymphoma on the brain.

90 (all black) inmates in a cell - kept like cattle - under an alleged "black" judicial system ..... :hmph:

Sean Smith, presumably, had no SA "connections" - Pistorius has plenty ..... :pipe:

People on the whole are so hungry for scandal and **** that it looks like they are actually hoping he actually did it on purpose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother Leon (Post 5856234)

People on the whole are so hungry for scandal and **** that it looks like they are actually hoping he actually did it on purpose.

Yeah, I know what you mean ..... :xyxwave:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...thorities-bail

Quote:

Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic star accused of his girlfriend's murder, has reported to correctional services as required by his bail terms, his spokeswoman said.

Lunice Johnston of Vuma Reputation Management said the double-amputee athlete had visited correctional officers in Pretoria but she was not told when or where.

A big media contingent had gathered at Brooklyn police station in the South African capital on Monday morning to await Pistorius, but Johnston said it was no longer a police matter.

"The uncle, Arnold Pistorius, confirmed it is now a matter for correctional services, so Oscar has to report to correctional services authorities," she said. "I don't know where."

She doesn't know much then ..... if she's not aware of what her client's up to, how is she going to manage his reputation ..... :rolleyes:

South African justice system is also on trial

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...africa-justice

Quote:

Since news broke of the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp on the morning of Valentine's Day, Oscar Pistorius has been at the top of the global news agenda. As the intense bail hearing progressed last week, the South African criminal justice system has also been on trial.

It is truly unprecedented that international news channels interrupt normal programming for close to two hours to broadcast live audio from a Pretoria magistrate. Because Desmond Nair would not allow television cameras in his courtroom, they were forced to show static file images or live footage from outside the court while Nair's ruling on Pistorius's bail application was broadcast.

During the hearing, the world listened while the cross-examination of the former investigating officer, Hilton Botha, revealed the propensity of police to bungle cases, either through negligence or incompetence. But it was the way Botha was recharged for attempted murder which exposed that the discord between the police and prosecutors, which almost led to violent confrontations between the two arms of state during the corruption trial of former police chief Jackie Selebi, has not gone away.

Meanwhile ministers of justice and crime prevention briefed the media on Sunday on the work of their departments, hoping to counter negative perceptions of widespread crime and corruption affecting the country's image.

The ministers gave brief information on interventions to clamp down on violent protests, reduce case backlogs, focus on violence against women and children, fight corruption and fill vacancies in senior posts of the criminal justice system. They announced that the government will publish the names of government officials convicted of corruption. "In the next few days, we will be publishing all the names of people who have been convicted in cases of corruption and all those whose assets have either been frozen or have been forfeited to the state," Radebe said.

But what better way to demonstrate that justice is being done than through the high-profile cases that have caught the world's attention? The brutal rape and murder of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen* turned the spotlight on South Africa's alarming rape statistics and shocking levels of violence against women and children. The Booysen case will obviously be watched closely in and outside the country to monitor the course of justice against the alleged perpetrators, whether the punishment will be commensurate to the levels of violence executed on the victim and how this compares to international practice. The international media has already compared the attack on Booysen and South Africa's reaction to it to a similar gang rape of an Indian woman in December; the punishment meted out is bound to provoke similar comparisons.

Despite all this, the Booysen case is going through the normal grind of the justice system. While Zuma acknowledged her attack in his State of the Nation Address and used it to condemn the high rates of sexual violence against women, there has not been any demonstrable action by the government to show that the Booysen rape and murder is a priority.

Not for the squeamish :

*

Spoiler:

http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-...#ixzz2LvZsmROY

South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in the world. Police figures show that 64,000 cases were reported last year.

Quote:

A second man has been charged in a South African court with the brutal gang rape and murder of 17-year-old Anene Booysen in a case which has shocked the nation.

Jonathan Davids hid his face after the court ruled that the media should not show his face, or that of Johannes Kana, who was charged earlier.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21428377

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother Leon (Post 5856234)

People on the whole are so hungry for scandal and **** that it looks like they are actually hoping he actually did it on purpose.

Especially if it suits their anti-sport, anti-Olympics agenda.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack_ (Post 5856352)

Especially if it suits their anti-sport, anti-Olympics agenda.

Yeah, those people are the worst ..... :laugh3:

ive heard today she arrived late at the house and he may not have known she was in the house at all? if thats the case she would have needed her own key surely?? thats the danger with second guessing without knowing enough facts

Quote:

Originally Posted by the truth (Post 5856807)

It seems that you were misinformed :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...e-emerges.html

Quote:

The last picture of Reeva Steenkamp alive has emerged, with the publication of leaked CCTV footage of the model arriving at Oscar Pistorius’s house the night she died showing her seemingly happy and relaxed.

Smiling and looking relaxed, Reeva Steenkamp drives up to the guarded entrance of the home of Oscar Pistorius.

Only minutes later, the Paralympic champion passes through the same security checkpoint.

Within hours, 29-year-old Miss Steenkamp was dead, shot four times by Pistorius, who claims he mistook her for an intruder at his home on the Silver Woods estate in Pretoria.

It seems likely, therefore, that her car would be in his driveway when he arrived home, surely an indicator that she was nearby (or even already inside) ..... :pipe:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omah (Post 5856189)

Who are you calling stupid?

:conf:

Why does every serious debate on here turn into some silly, shark-jumped argument about racism?

What's happened is truly sickening and heart-breaking. Ethnicity, or other external, insignificant factors, needn't come into it. Particularly not for this kind of thread. Allow it. :bored:

A Plea Bargain for Pistorius?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...#ixzz2LzZqGLAO

Jeffrey Toobin

Quote:

The Pistorius matter cries out for a plea bargain, and the legal story will probably end that way.

On the night of February 13-14, Pistorius fired his gun four times into the locked door of his bathroom, hitting Steenkamp three times and killing her. According to the defendant, Steenkamp’s death was a tragic accident.

South Africa has a vigorous culture of plea bargaining: plea bargains save time for the judicial system and offer both sides a greater measure of certainty than do trials. Even high-profile cases in South Africa are sometimes resolved by plea bargain. In 2005, Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British Prime Minister, accepted a fine of about five hundred thousand dollars and a four-year suspended sentence in connection with his role in a bizarre plot involving a coup d’etat in Equatorial Guinea.

The Pistorius case will probably end the same way. In South Africa, premeditated murder carries a life sentence, which in practice turns out usually to be twenty-five years. The alternative charge in the case is called “culpable homicide,” which is based on the idea of negligence rather than intentional killing. Culpable homicide does not carry a minimum sentence, and is thus clearly amenable as a focus for plea negotiations.

Pistorius could potentially turn a very long sentence into a short one, though he would give up the option of getting off completely.

But why would the government want to make a deal? Well, because Pistorius has a defensible case. Home invasions are epidemic in South Africa. A fact finder might credit Pistorius’s intense fear (and thus his overreaction) to the threat of an intruder in his bathroom.

The prosecution may also have a hard time proving motive. Pistorius and Steenkamp were a relatively new couple. There were no reports of public tension, much less murderous violence, between them. A plea bargain would obviate the need for the government to fill this hole in its case.

The bail ruling also increases Pistorius’s leverage for a good plea deal. Since he is not in prison, he will be in no hurry to go to trial; his lawyers can spend time chipping away at the government’s case, hiring experts, demanding more information, and generally working to render the events of that night a little more muddy.

Then there is the question of juries in South Africa: there are none. All verdicts and sentences are rendered by judges alone. This could cut both ways. At the time of the bail hearing, it was revealed that Hilton Botha, the lead detective in the case, was himself facing attempted murder charges. As a result, he was removed from the case. Jurors might well be so appalled by a police officer like Botha that they would be tempted to write off the case on that ground alone, as the jurors in the O. J. Simpson case did; a judge might take the information more in stride and look carefully to see if it had any actual relevance to the facts of the case. In this way, a judge trial helps the prosecution. But a judge could help the defense, too. The prosecution could attempt to make the case a referendum on domestic violence, and thus try to intimidate a jury into making a popular decision. An independent judge is more likely to focus on the facts and the relevant law and remain unswayed by such an appeal than a jury made up of legal novices would be.

In any event, the case could go either way—and this is precisely the kind of case that usually ends in a plea bargain. The risk of uncertainty is too high. Both Pistorius and his pursuers will welcome the certainty of a deal.

Will an admitted killer end up doing a a couple of hundred hours hours "community service" in his leisure time ..... :conf: