# Amputee Runner Oscar Pistorius Shoots Girlfriend **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265 "2013-02-14T07:36:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/81 "2014-03-14T08:57:52Z")
I’d also like to note how annoying it is that the media keep on writing things like, “Pistorius’ fate will be in the hands of Judge Masipa,” ignoring the existence of the two assessors. When deciding questions of fact (i.e. the type of questions that would be decided by a jury if we had juries) the assessors are as important as the judge. ---
**Author:** ![Athabasca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Athabasca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athabasca)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/82 "2014-03-16T00:51:26Z")
> [@Nippless](#): > > Bullets are certainly an interesting Valentine’s day gift. Heh, Black Talons. When you care enough to shoot the very best… ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/83 "2014-03-16T04:02:12Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > I’d also like to note how annoying it is that the media keep on writing things like, “Pistorius’ fate will be in the hands of Judge Masipa,” ignoring the existence of the two assessors. When deciding questions of fact (i.e. the type of questions that would be decided by a jury if we had juries) the assessors are as important as the judge. I saw the same thing with the Knox trials and the appeal: Americans don’t really comprehend that other countries have justice systems that differ from ours, so news stories try to use familiar terms rather than explain the intricacies of a particular country’s courts. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/84 "2014-03-24T19:29:05Z")
The prosecutor saved the most damning evidence for last. These texts make Pistorius sound like a jealous, quick tempered and controlling ass. It’s not hard imagining him in one of these rages the night Reeva got cornered in a bathroom and shot. I hope this guy gets life in prison. He doesn’t need to be out and dating women again. > **[Reeva Steenkamp’s text messages read at Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial: ‘I’m...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2014/03/24/reeva-steenkamps-text-messages-read-at-oscar-pistorius-murder-trial-im-scared-of-u-sometimes-and-how-u-snap-at-me/)** > > Reeva Steenkamp was less than a month from the grave when she fired off a text to jealous boyfriend Oscar Pistorius. “I’m scared of u sometimes and how u snap at me and of how you will … > [@](#): > > Reeva Steenkamp was less than a month from the grave when she fired off a text to jealous boyfriend Oscar Pistorius. > > “I’m scared of u sometimes and how u snap at me and of how you will react to me,” the doomed bikini model wrote after the South African sprinter embarrassed her at a friend’s engagement party. > > “I just want to love and be loved. Be happy and make someone SO happy. Maybe we can’t do that for each other.” > > Pistorius wrote back and apologized — but blamed her for his “tantrum.” > > “I was upset that you just left me after we got food to go talk to guy,” he wrote. “I was standing tight (sic) behind you watching you touch his arm and ignore me.” ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/85 "2014-08-08T19:25:09Z")
The trial is over and the verdict is set for September 11. > **[Oscar Pistorius Lawyers, in Closing Argument, Say Murder Charge Is Too Strong...](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/africa/oscar-pistorius-murder-trial.html)** > > Lawyers finished their formal submissions, and the case against the double-amputee sprinter was handed over to Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa for a verdict. Did anyone follow the trial and have any predictions? [I didn’t.] ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/86 "2014-08-08T22:17:03Z")
Why did she lock the bathroom door if she wasn’t trying to protect herself from him? I only lock bathroom doors if I’m trying to keep kids out or worried about someone I am not intimate with walking in. I’ve never locked the bathroom door when with my fella. While I can possibly see someone who just routinely locks the door each time, it seems odd for the middle of the night potty run. Therefore I am inclined to feel that she was trying to lock him out and he is guilty. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/87 "2014-10-21T20:31:04Z")
5 years with a chance of getting out after 10 months for house arrest. Boy they sure made an example out of this jerk. :rolleyes: Shot through a thin door 4 times and kills a woman with her entire life and promising career ahead of her. If there’s any justice at all he’ll be somebody’s bitch for those 10 months. > **[Oscar Pistorius sentenced to 5 years in prison for girlfriend’s killing | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/21/world/africa/south-africa-pistorius-sentencing/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)** > > Oscar Pistorius’ fall from grace culminated Tuesday with a five-year sentence in the shooting death of his girlfriend. > [@](#): > > Under South African law, he will have to serve at least one-sixth of his sentence – 10 months – before he can ask to be placed under correctional supervision, usually house arrest, instead. > > Pistorius was also given a three-year sentence on a firearms charge, but it was suspended for five years on condition he’s not found guilty of another crime where there’s negligence involving a firearm during that period. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/88 "2014-10-21T20:32:35Z")
Ah yes, rape is always the right choice. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/89 "2014-10-23T13:53:14Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Ah yes, rape is always the right choice. That’s probably one of the most shocking things I’ve learned from this board - there really are people who think rape in jail is acceptable. Anyway - Pistorius has been crying all night. Awww poor Oscar. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/90 "2014-10-27T18:08:32Z")
> [@](#): > > South African prosecutors will appeal against the culpable homicide verdict and five-year jail sentence passed on Oscar Pistorius last week after public and legal criticism of the judge’s decision to absolve the track star of murder… > > However, Masipa’s decision to rule out murder was criticised by several legal experts and the Women’s League of the African National Congress (ANC) as an erroneous interpretation of ‘dolus eventualis’, the legal principle by which a person is held accountable for the foreseeable consequences of their actions. > > A possible error of law opens the way for an appeal by the state. > > Under the principle of ‘dolus eventualis’, it does not matter whether Pistorius intended to kill Steenkamp, so much as the imaginary person whom he believed to be behind the door. [http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0IG1MT20141027](http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0IG1MT20141027) Good news!! ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/91 "2017-11-24T15:19:55Z")
Updating this thread: > [@](#): > > Oscar Pistorius will be serving an additional 13 years in prison, after a South African court increased the double-amputee and former Olympic athlete’s sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. > > In 2016, a judge sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for shooting Steenkamp through the bathroom door of his house in 2013. > > The government appealed that sentence, saying it was too lenient. > > Justice Willie Seriti of South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal announced Friday that the five-judge panel had upheld prosecutors’ appeals, according to The Associated Press, and increased the sentence to 15 years, minus time served. Fifteen years is the country’s usual minimum sentence for murder. > > Pistorius has 13 years and five months remaining, taking into account his time already in prison and and under house arrest, the justice said. > **[Oscar Pistorius' Prison Sentence More Than Doubled](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/24/566328671/oscar-pistorius-sentence-increased-by-13-years)** > > South Africa's Supreme Court said it was sentencing the former Olympian to 15 years, minus time served, for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend. Prosecutors said his original sentence was too lenient. This is a much more just sentence. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2023, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/92 "2023-11-24T13:21:09Z")
> **[Oscar Pistorius to be freed on parole](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67518501)** > > The former Paralympian has been serving a 13-year sentence for murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/93 "2024-01-05T19:38:07Z")
> **[Oscar Pistorius released on parole 11 years after killing Reeva Steenkamp](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67885713)** > > The former athlete shot Reeva Steenkamp multiple times through a closed bathroom door in 2013. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/94 "2024-01-05T20:12:53Z")
Saw this mentioned on the news (CNN?). Seems long ago now, so much has happened in the world since then, some of it almost as important as the South African OJ trial. Hard to see him as anything but guilty of murder. Probably affected by drugs, certainly paranoid in his behavior, and lots of possibilities of a very dark story. No matter what he acted with reckless disregard for life. Prior to his shooting and killing his girlfriend he looked like an inspirational figure who overcame a disability in glorious fashion. The real lives of such figures rarely match up with the public image. The fall from grace aspect of the story was the attraction, the focus entirely on the perpetrator, dead victims don’t make good new stories. I would prefer never to hear of this ever again but that seems unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265/95 "2024-01-05T20:30:15Z")
If Reeva Steenkamp is still dead, then Oscar Pistorius should still be in prison. If he’s not guilty by reason of insanity, he should still be confined in a mental hospital. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amputee-runner-oscar-pistorius-shoots-girlfriend/650265.md?page=4)