Murderous Athlete and Erstwhile Media Darling Oscar Pistorius Beats Murder Rap

Formerly media-feted South African runner Oscar Pistorius just got away with murder, mostly.

The judge bought his story. His very tall tale, that is. A tale that flies in the face of the facts- except as the judge sees them. Of course, she had to discard most of the facts in the process, as she explained from the bench.

The judge, Thokozile Matilda Masipa, is one of the few people on earth who believes Pistorius' claim that he thought a phantom intruder (who apparently screams like a terrified woman) locked himself in Pistorius' bathroom, leaving Pistorius no choice but to fire four shots through the locked door (instead of, say, calling the security detail in his walled community, or calling the police, or banging on the door and demanding to know who was in there). Obviously he had chased his terrified girlfriend, the very unlucky-in-love Reeva Steenkamp, into the bathroom, mostly likely at gunpoint.

Pistorius was living in a walled community, with security guards, who he could have summoned if a Spiderman-like “intruder” had locked himself in Pistorius' bathroom, as he claimed.

The judge actually claims to believe his ridiculous story that he thought his girlfriend, who locked herself in a bathroom to escape him, was an intruder. Why he thought there was an intruder locked in his bathroom is unexplained. The judge explicitly discarded the witnesses' evidence of hearing a woman screaming in terror from his apartment, as she explained from the bench. She actually claimed the evidence supported Pistorius' absurd alibi!

Pistorius executed his girlfriend in a rage, firing four shots through the bathroom door after she locked herself in there to try and protect herself from his murderous fury.

Judge Masipa opined: "I am of the view that the accused acted too hastily and used excessive force. In the circumstances, it is clear that his conduct was negligent." Thus Pistorius was guilty of “culpable homicide,” which South African law defines as killing through negligence, not intent. So like if you were laying bricks and one accidentally fell on someone and they died, you'd be guilty of that. Pistorius murdering his girlfriend was just a careless accident. He shouldn't have been shooting that gun through a door, that's all.

This verdict is so bad that even a prominent South African defense attorney bemoaned it, saying “It sends a terrible message about how we tolerate crime in South Africa. The message is that you can just kill someone and get away with it.” (Martin Hood.) [1]

Oscar Pistorius, formerly the subject of much adoring puffery in U.S. media (and presumably elsewhere) based on the fact that he's missing his lower limbs and runs competitively on special leg extensions that give him an unfair advantage over people with natural legs, was finally revealed as a violent, self-centered, egotistical lout when he murdered his girlfriend. (His prior history of violent assaults was previously covered up in the U.S. media, at least. Somehow even a bright “media spotlight” doesn't reveal things in plain sight that contradicts the stories concocted by cynical media propagandists.) [2]

Pistorius has a violent history, including firing a gun in a restaurant and a number of violent assaults. Finally went “all the way” and murdered his girlfriend. The incident in the restaurant happened in 2013, the year before he murdered his unlucky girlfriend. (He has a history of violence against women.) That should have been a warning sign. But Pistorius was protected by celebrity privilege. The court got around to convicting him of firing that shot in the restaurant.

He's not off the hook entirely. Basically the judge found him guilty of negligence for firing a gun through his locked bathroom door. This constituted “culpable homicide” since someone died. For that, he could get a maximum 15 years in prison- or a minimum of “community service” (wonder what “service” he could do for any community!).

Now his lawyers are arguing for release on bail pending sentencing. (And maybe there will be appeals, and more freedom on bail for Pistorius.)

This judge, obviously a fool, was previously the subject of a puff-piece in the New York Times. Guess she's not as smart as they made her out to be. [3]

I was afraid Pistorius would worm his way out of it. Every time I thought about the case until now, I had a twinge of anxiety that he'd get off. Now my fear has come to pass. It pays to have money, to buy sharp lawyers who are good at muddying waters and obfuscating reality. Skilled sophists who can cloud men's (and women's) minds with their mendacious narratives and legal legerdemain.

The judge dismissed the prosecution's evidence, dismissed the witnesses' testimony to hearing arguing, female screams, and then gunshots. Instead she chose to believe Pistorius' unbelievable claim that he thought there was an intruder locked in his bathroom. Even though she herself opined from the bench that he was a poor and evasive witness. She even pronounced from the bench that because a defendant is “untruthful, does not mean he is guilty.” But LADY, if you think he is UNTRUTHFUL, why are you BELIEVING his CLAIM that he THOUGHT an INTRUDER was in his bathroom! You believe him to be untruthful, but you take his word on that, with NO EVIDENCE AT ALL to substantiate his claim!!

What the judge did was ignore the actual evidence and accept Pistoriius' baseless claim, in order to get him off the hook. What a bitch.

Well, one thing this shows is that having female judges in no way guarantees justice for female crime victims. Here's a young woman obviously murdered by a violent boyfriend, and he gets off despite overwhelming evidence against him- and all he had to do was make a nonsensical claim that was contradicted by the actual evidence. And white racists and male sexists can point to this and claim (falsely) that it proves black women aren't qualified to be judges. That makes this awful verdict damaging in more ways than one.

If that cretinous judge doesn't sentence him to 15 years, she's disgusting. I have a bad feeling she's not going to.

In South Africa, the average person in the street had no trouble seeing Pistorius' guilt. A well-(over?)educated judge was able to have the wool pulled over her eyes. Contrary to her assertions in court, the evidence DID prove he knowingly murdered his girlfriend. Preposterously, she asserted that the evidence supported his ridiculous story! No it didn't, lady.

It didn't.

1] South Africa isn't the only country where you can get away with murder- if you're a celebrity and/or rich. The U.S. is another such place. Murderers who got away with it in the U.S. include O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake, Claus von Bulow, and Robert Durst. Durst actually murdered a neighbor for no reason, cut his body into pieces, and strewed the chunks of flesh and bone along a beach. At trial he pleaded self-defense, and a Texas jury acquitted him! Texas! Where they regularly send innocent people to death row! Go figure! Durst also murdered his wife years ago and wasn't even charged for that crime.

2] Pistorius was born missing the leg bones below the knees, so his lower legs were amputated in infancy. This allowed him to grow up adapting to that condition and he pursued a career as a professional runner. The media loves concocting stories of people “overcoming handicaps to excel,” which is supposed to prove, what? That physical limitations aren't really limiting? That people can do anything they want if they are just determined enough? It's bullshit of course, but it's catnip for media propagandists who love promoting those concepts. These attitudes have an implied corollary: that any failure is the fault of the individual, that society doesn't hold people back, that existing power structures can't be blamed for the individual's condition in life since anything can be overcome with pluck and grit.

That also was one of the tropes in the New York Times puff piece on the judge, how she “overcame” apartheid. Except the one in a million who can manage to beat the odds and find a way to maneuver around an oppressive system or crippling life conditions DOESN'T PROVE that “anyone can do it.” It proves just the opposite- that very few can do it!

3] The judge is a black woman who lived under apartheid. Does she subconsciously see Pistorius as some kind of underdog, like she was? Does she subconsciously resent pretty white women, like the model Pistorius murdered? Probably not. For now, it's a mystery to me how she could get it so wrong.