Alfresco

Will the conviction change on appeal - Yes or No?

carolinephillips

Nope- I think his family is rich and powerful enough to prevent justice being done.

spouse of scouse

I tend to agree.

Hey, this has probably already been discussed but I missed it - is it true that Pistorius was sending Ms Steenkemp's family money every month throughout the trial? It's quite likely just a media fantasy, but I'd be interested to know if it was confirmed.

Daisytreadlight

Apparently so, I'm such a tecnophobe that I'm unable to send the link, but he was paying them 6000 rand (£341) a month after they refused a one off payment of 375,000 rand (£21.000) calling it blood money! Since it emerged in court her parents have vowed to pay back every cent. Goggle the Guardian newspaper as the article is in there dated 14th October.

spouse of scouse

Thanks Daisy. What odd behavior - can sort of understand him sending them money (guilt? coercion?) but I can't for the life of me understand why Ms Steenkamp's parents would accept money from their daughter's killer.

Daisytreadlight

I know, they have only offered to pay it back since it came to light.

paulry

Unlikely that the SA justice system will overturn the previous rulking because that would be admitting they got it wrong. That plus the money Pistorius' family will deploy every which way they can to ensure that justice is not done. He should be spending a minimum of 5 years in prison and be treated just the same way as any other inmate.

spouse of scouse

Not really a stellar example of seeking justice for your murdered daughter I don't understand how the hell they could accept money from him, although I do realize I don't know all the circumstances.

spouse of scouse

Can't help but agree. I've always thought manslaughter was defined as an entirely accidental act. Not sure how shooting someone four times while they're screaming can be construed as an accident - still, he's had his trial and that's what the judge decided.

Bring on the appeal judge, hope he/she is a hard b*stard.

Dorothy

And writing a book about it as well. From what I understand Reeva's mother has written a book. Talk about profiting from your loss!

Sally Redux

The son of one of our neighbours in LA had murdered another boy at his school. She told me they had to pay the family 'a lot of money' which I found somewhat intriguing but didn't like to go into (he was convicted of murder). I think there may be a punitive aspect to it from the family's point of view.

GarryP

I think it will get overturned on appeal.

It was clearly incorrect of the judge to not find him guilty of common law murder at the original trial, so the spotlight has been cast on that narrow aspect of law. It's kind of difficult for the SA 'justice' system to compound the error - mainly because people will then start talking openly about corruption.

On top of that, the claim is Pistorius's money has run out and the case is being sustained by a rich uncle. So there's a limit to how far the corruption can go.

It's maybe not as certain as it should be that he'll be going down for a 15 stretch, but I think on the balance of probabilities, given how obviously the original judge screwed up the law, he'll get found guilty at the appeal.

Beoz

Well he did kill her. There's no disputing that. Not even from OP. So sure he's feeling guilty ..... No doubt about it. If someone accidently killed someone by drink driving or the like the relatives would have a good case to seek compensation. Same in this case. Let's call this compensation.

Beoz

I thought the judge explained why she came to her decision with very good conviction based on the evidence provided and interpretation of the law. Another judge could also explain a murder conviction with the same degree of competence.

Not sure on this one. I suspect the whole evidence giving will be done all over again? Perhaps some new stuff will come to light.

GarryP

She said it wasn't dolus eventualis was because he couldn't have known it was Reeva behind the door. Ignoring that he damn well could, it didn't matter who he thought was behind the door, the very fact that he knew someone was there, and that shooting four bullets across the cubical meant there was a good chance of killing someone, but did it anyway, is text book dolus eventualis.

She got it wrong.

And because she explained so much in depth her reasoning, everyone knows she got it wrong.