Pistorius - is this man sane

[floo]

Pistorius has no excuse for the crime he committed his disability is NOT an excuse. I hope he finds the all too short time he is spending in prison very hard indeed!

[Maeght]

Pistorius has no excuse for the crime he committed his disability is NOT an excuse. I hope he finds the all too short time he is spending in prison very hard indeed!

So, as ever, no attempt to answer points made to you or the questions asked - just another case of you stating your opinion, repeatedly.

[floo]

Yep!

[Brownie]

OK OK Brownie and Meaght

Pistorious is a Saint and Reeva committed suicide by hiding in the toilet and acting like a burglar

Neither of us said that Owlswing, honestly.  You know that.
I am accepting of his conviction and sentence, it's sorted as far as I'm concerned.  I just feel, or have felt, that justice may not be done and justice is the most important thing.  It's all over now though.

I don't understand the outrage and the downright spluttering viciousness on the part of uninvolved people, pontificating from their armchairs, who don't know any more than me - and all I know is what I've read and seen on the TV.  There's something unhealthy about that, like jeering outside a court and banging on the meat wagon.  In the past there were public hangings and I daresay they engendered the same emotions in the spectators.  (I'm not putting you in that category Owl.)

This case is terribly tragic and people seem to lose sight of that fact.  Quite honestly, I don't want to think about it any more.  I'm glad I don't live in SA and that trials are less public here, we read reports but don't see it all on TV and though there are plenty of violent crimes, they are far less.   

There was a horrible murder in SA not long ago of a young woman from the Hindocha* family who was on honeymoon in South Africa;  it looked as though her husband was guilty at one time but there wasn't enough evidence to convict.  That was terribly upsetting too, her family have never had closure.   At least Reeva Steemkamp's family have that, however difficult.  Though they will never understand 'why'.

*Anni Dewani I think.

[floo]

I have just seen this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36855498

Pistorius's sentence is to be reviewed as it is considered far too lenient and is bringing the justice system into disrepute.

[Owlswing]

I have just seen this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36855498

Pistorius's sentence is to be reviewed as it is considered far too lenient and is bringing the justice system into disrepute.

I seriously hope that this time they get it right. Someone on the radio this morning was saying that the law on sentencing for murder had been "disgracefully ignored" and there are, apparently, also calls for disciplinary charges to be brought against the judge.

[floo]

I seriously hope that this time they get it right. Someone on the radio this morning was saying that the law on sentencing for murder had been "disgracefully ignored" and there are, apparently, also calls for disciplinary charges to be brought against the judge.

And rightly so if that is the case. One wonders if the judge has received a backhander to keep the sentence ludicrously low?

[Brownie]

As far as I can tell, the judge is a highly respected person of integrity.  Judges can only rule as they see fit at the time.   I don't understand why there is going to be an appeal by the prosecution - if there is going to be one, it might just be a proposal - but if there is it will all be reviewed.

[jeremyp]

As far as I can tell, the judge is a highly respected person of integrity.  Judges can only rule as they see fit at the time.   I don't understand why there is going to be an appeal by the prosecution - if there is going to be one, it might just be a proposal - but if there is it will all be reviewed.

When the verdict was culpable homicide, the judge gave a sentence close to the maximum possible, now it is murder, the same judge has given a verdict close to the minimum possible in a case in which none of the mitigating circumstances have changed. It's almost like somebody said "make sure he gets five or six years".

Having said that, I think incompetence or simply making a mistake are more likely than a conspiracy.

[Brownie]

Well we'll have to wait and see what happens if there is an appeal against the sentence and if there is and the result is a longer prison term, accept it.

[floo]

Pistorius is a very nasty piece of work who is quite likely to kill again, in a fit of temper, if he is released. Personally I would throw away the key!

[jeremyp]

Pistorius is a very nasty piece of work who is quite likely to kill again, in a fit of temper, if he is released. Personally I would throw away the key!

When was it you did your psych evaluation of him?

[floo]

When was it you did your psych evaluation of him?

He has shot at a personal in a restaurant once, but didn't kill them, he should have been sent down for that too.

[Owlswing]

He has shot at a personal in a restaurant once, but didn't kill them, he should have been sent down for that too.

He got away with it that time and cannot see why he should not get away with it this time too.

[floo]

He got away with it that time and cannot see why he should not get away with it this time too.

If the guy is deemed mentally ill, as some are saying he is, he should be put in a secure unit in a psychiatric hospital until such time as he is deemed not a danger to the public.

[Owlswing]

If the guy is deemed mentally ill, as some are saying he is, he should be put in a secure unit in a psychiatric hospital until such time as he is deemed not a danger to the public.

AS long as he doesn't have a gun in his hand the only danger to the public is from his monumental ego!

[jeremyp]

He has shot at a personal in a restaurant once, but didn't kill them, he should have been sent down for that too.

Ah, so your opinion was just based on one story.

[Owlswing]

Ah, so your opinion was just based on one story.

If he was living near to you instead of in S A would you be happy with him bering in possession of a gun anywhere close to you or your family - especially if any of you worked in a restaurant?

[jeremyp]

If he was living near to you instead of in S A would you be happy with him bering in possession of a gun anywhere close to you or your family - especially if any of you worked in a restaurant?

I would be pretty unhappy with anybody in possession of a gun in my restaurant. I'd certainly call the police, since it is illegal here.

[floo]

We were in a restaurant in January, when a young kid at an adjoining table was permitted, by his parents to 'shoot' the diners with his realistic looking toy gun! As you can imagine that didn't go down well and they were told to leave.

[Brownie]

I have a tiny toy gun  , it is behind things in my medicine box. Never used it - yet.  Beware!  When I was a child I had a cap gun and a cowboy hat.  Grown ups seemed to be more wary of water pistols, I wonder why.

Seriously, I would think Oscar Pistorius's ego has been seriously deflated, never to be inflated because, whatever happens, he is a big Hate Figure in South Africa now.

I find the report of him firing a gun in a restaurant, for no apparent reason, quite disturbing.  It has nothing to do with his recent trial but, let's face it, it is a bizarre, never mind dangerous, thing to do.  Makes me glad that, with some exceptions, owning firearms is illegal here.

A few years in prison will drastically change the man - even a few months changes someone so a long sentence will take its toll of him.  Surely that's enough, he doesn't have much to come out to or look forward to, relationship-wife, money is a cold comfort, and nothing will bring back his ex-girlfriend.

[Owlswing]

We were in a restaurant in January, when a young kid at an adjoining table was permitted, by his parents to 'shoot' the diners with his realistic looking toy gun! As you can imagine that didn't go down well and they were told to leave.

A good point Floo.

Just how close do you have to be to be absolutely certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a weapon being pointed at you is the real McCoy or a toy!

How many shopkeepers have found out, to their cost, just how hard this is? Especially when your hesitation in try to determine if the weapon is real or not is 'too long' for the person holding the weapon and you are dead (shot) or seriously wounded/injured (pistol whipped) before you can make an accurate assessment.

jeremyp (see #118) would, in all probablilty, if the gun he was confronted with were real, be dead or seriously injured before he dialled the second 9. 

[Owlswing]

I have a tiny toy gun  , it is behind things in my medicine box. Never used it - yet.  Beware!  When I was a child I had a cap gun and a cowboy hat.  Grown ups seemed to be more wary of water pistols, I wonder why.

Seriously, I would think Oscar Pistorius's ego has been seriously deflated, never to be inflated because, whatever happens, he is a big Hate Figure in South Africa now.

I find the report of him firing a gun in a restaurant, for no apparent reason, quite disturbing.  It has nothing to do with his recent trial but, let's face it, it is a bizarre, never mind dangerous, thing to do.  Makes me glad that, with some exceptions, owning firearms is illegal here.

A few years in prison will drastically change the man - even a few months changes someone so a long sentence will take its toll of him.  Surely that's enough, he doesn't have much to come out to or look forward to, relationship-wife, money is a cold comfort, and nothing will bring back his ex-girlfriend.

Do you really think that he would want to come back? Should this actually happen, he is just as likely to find himself beaten to death with a pair of stlilletto heels!

[Brownie]

Yours I presume Owlswing?   

No, atm I think he probably doesn't want to return to normal life because life will never be normal for him again.  A few years down the line, if he is still alive, he may feel differently,  However, I'm not in his mind, merely speculating.

[Owlswing]

Yours I presume Owlswing?   

No, atm I think he probably doesn't want to return to normal life because life will never be normal for him again.  A few years down the line, if he is still alive, he may feel differently,  However, I'm not in his mind, merely speculating.

Why mine?

You made the comment about "nothing will bring back his ex-girlfriend" - having been shot by the idiot I thought that upon her return revenge by stilletto would be probable!