[Magdalen] Pistorius Trial.

[Sally Davies]

The problem is he was found not guilty of murder "dolus eventualis"; only
on culpable homicide. That carries no minimum sentence, though Judge Masipa
does have the option of a heavy-ish jail sentence.  He knew what bullets he
had in the gun and in previous cases self defence hasn't been accepted as
an excuse when using Black Talon ammo that literally explode when they hit
flesh, hence Reeva's terrible wounds. So why cut Oscar slack when he used
them knowing what they do i.e. "zombie stopping"??

I disagree with her on the facts as well - firstly that "relationships are
unpredictable"- the work of Gottman and others says they are in fact highly
predictable, just as human behaviour can be predictable in general, though
not 100%. Also, that the accused's remorseful behaviour after the shooting
indicates that he did not intend to shoot her, or anyone else. That's
because according to me Oscar has a problem with impulsive acting out in
anger, act first and think afterwards. This could have been exacerbated by
his head injury of 2009 though no one who assessed him seems to have looked
into this properly (neuropsychological assessment etc). But whether or not
it was, there is no necessary connection between his intention on pulling
the trigger and his reaction on realising what he's done and what the
consequences are going to be for him. At which point according to me he did
lie and did so consistently, like a child or an adolescent who sticks to
his story.

Justice has not been done for Reeva and maybe the intense media interest
had something to do with that, causing the judge to be more sympathetic to
the accused as he unraveled in the glare of publicity. It's not going to be
a popular verdict in SA that's for sure, aside from a few die-hard Oscar
groupies.

Sally D

On Saturday, 13 September 2014, Roland Orr <roland at orr55.org> wrote:

> He fired 4 shots not one - so hence the guilty verdict
> Roland
>
> On 12/09/2014 18:17, Jay Weigel wrote:
>
>> I hadn't really followed the trial, so I'm not clear on whether the gun
>> was
>> already loaded when he picked it up. That would not be uncommon in the US,
>> and would not necessarily indicate intent.
>>
>> As to South African and allied accents, I'm a huge fan of the Precious
>> Ramotswe audiobooks as read by South African actress Lisette Lecat.
>> Although they are set in Botwana, the accents must be somewhat similar,
>> and
>> she reads them in the African-accented English in which they are written.
>> They're quite wonderful and are easy to understand.
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 1:08 PM, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Yes - the accents are very different. However, it seems to be accepted in
>>> broadcasting and film media that Americans, in particular, struggle to
>>> understand 'foreign' accents. On the first animated movie that Keith
>>> worked
>>> on, Adventures in Zambezia, almost all the original South African cast
>>> had
>>> to be replaced with American voices in order to have any hope of an
>>> American release deal.
>>>
>>> We did well out of it, with some great voices including Samuel L.
>>> Jackson,
>>> but it pressed the budget past breaking point. So your experience, David,
>>> is probably 'par for the course' in the USA.
>>>
>>> Perhaps in countries like the UK, where regional accents vary
>>> extensively,
>>> people just get used to following these different accents? To us as South
>>> Africans Aussies and New Zealanders sound nothing like us, but when I
>>> first
>>> went to the UK people would often enquire whether I came from Down Under,
>>> or even from Canada.
>>>
>>> I'm weary of the Oscar trial now but suspect we may not be done with it
>>> as
>>> the State is not going to like this verdict. The Director of Public
>>> Prosecutions has been in court which has me wondering if they're going to
>>> appeal. I don't like the verdict myself because according to me if
>>> someone
>>> loads a gun with that type of ammunition, they're already intending to
>>> kill
>>> someone.
>>>
>>> Sally D
>>>
>>> On Friday, 12 September 2014, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
>>> magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> There has been very heavy USA media coverage of this trial
>>>> which seems to have dragged on forever.
>>>>
>>>> Yesterday there were comments during this TV coverage from
>>>> five different South Africans, both black (the judge) and white,
>>>> (including Pistorius).
>>>>
>>>> The judge was only partially comprehensible to me, but I suspect
>>>> that for her, maybe English is a second language (?)
>>>>
>>>> The other four were variably understood by me, probably secondary
>>>> to some very unusual (to me) vowel pronunciation.
>>>>
>>>> I had forgotten that South Africa has its own strong regional accent,
>>>> as I keep lumping South Africans in with Aussies and New Zealanders.
>>>> If these five on the news are any indication, my assumptions are
>>>> obviously simplistic.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> David Strang - Struggling with his own Great Northern Cities Vowel
>>>>
>>> Shift.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>