More than a year after the murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, Olympic athlete Oscar Pitorious is facing trial in South Africa. Pitorious faces 25 years to life in prison. According to CNN.com, Pistorious describes the event as a tragic accident, rather than premeditated murder. He claimed that he was acting in self-defense, thinking that a burglar had entered the house. Pistorious told the jury in his initial statement, “I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police. She did not respond and I moved backwards out of the bathroom, keeping my eye on the bathroom entrance. Everything was pitch-dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light. When I reached the bed, I realized that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet. I returned to the bathroom calling her name.” After putting on his prosthetic legs, Pistorious broke open the bathroom door. He said, "Reeva was slumped over but alive.” He then carried her downstairs where she died. The prosection rejected Pistorious’s testimony, instead calling it an “elaborate cover-up plot” and “that he mistook her for a burglar, saying it would make no sense for an intruder to hide behind a locked bathroom door… Pistorius armed himself, attached his prosthetic legs and walked 7 meters (23 feet) to shoot Steenkamp through a bathroom door after a heated argument,” according to the Associated Press. Gerrie Nel, head prosecuter, argued Pistorious’s statements, saying “You never gave them (intruders) a chance, in your version… he (Pistorious) never fired a warning shot.” Nel and the prosecution went onto say “that Pistorious shot to kill- and that his targert was Steenkamp,” according to the Associated Press. Brigham Young University-Hawaii student Cameron Crook, a senior in business management from Oregon, said, “I don’t really know a lot about the trial, but it makes me mad when athletes and celebrities do something wrong and it’s publicized all over. There are other court cases that could be more important and more controversial, but the media only cares about people who are well known.”Pistorious claims that he had no intention of killing his girlfriend. He told the court, "We were deeply in love and couldn't be happier. I loved her and I know she felt the same way."The trials and proceedings have been postponed until May 5th, due to the South African elections.
Writer: Emily Halls ~ Multimedia Journalist
