Friday, February 22, 2013

Oscar Pistorius Bail Hearing


Pistorius granted bail

Nair grants bail to Pistorius.
Part of his reasoning is Pistorius's having given a detailed account of his version of events (improbabilities notwithstanding).
None of the factors for refusing bail have been established, Nair says.


Nair says the prosecution did not do enough to establish whether or not Pistorius had a house in Italy.
Had that been done, given Pistorius did not mention it, that would have been important.

But likewise, Nair says, the state cannot equally show that its case is so strong and watertight that the applicant must come to the conclusion he should flee or evade his trial.

The only person who knows what happened is the accused, Nair says.
We are dealing with circumstantial evidence, he says.


Nair does not agree that Botha's concessions and his credibility undermines the state's case.
Nair says the prosecution has only circumstantial evidence but that does not preclude its being a schedule six offence.
Nair runs through the prosecution's argument that this was a "schedule six" offence – premeditated murder – and Pistorius should not get bail, including the number of shots, the wounds on the righthand side of the body, and witness statements about fighting having been heard.
The defence argued this could never have been premediatated murder, Nair recalsl.


He says bail serves the public interest because it reduces the number of prisoners in an already overcrowded system and reduces the number of families deprived of a breadwinner.


Botha said when he went back to the scene the 9mm holster was on the side of the bed where the slippers and overnight bag were.
Botha said the accused didn't know who was in the toilet and had not called for his girlfriend.
He said a witness reported hearing loud voices between 2am and 3am that night.
Another witness had claimed to have heard gunshots, seen lights on, heard a female scream, and heard more shots, according to Botha.
Botha, Nair recalls, said he saw Steenkamp lying dead at the bottom of Pistorius's stairs in shorts and a vest.
Botha said Pistorius was a flight risk.
He said the accused spent time overseas and had a house in Italy. He said there was a safe in the kitchen and the accused's attorney arrived with a locksmith to open it and get a memory stick with account numbers for offshore accounts.
Botha said it was a very serious offence in that a defenceless woman was shot three times through a closed door and she was unarmed.
Botha said he had taken statements from neighbours and witnesses.
Botha said there were wounds in Steenkamp's head, elbow, and hip.
There was also a bullet hole through her shorts.
He said rounds of .38 ammunition were found and Pistorius had no licence for these. Pistorius would be charged for these, he said.
Botha said it was a two-storey dwelling. Up the stairs you turn right to the main bedroom. A woman's slippers were there.
In the bathroom were the shower and toilet with their own doors.
In the bathroom he saw a piece of wood from the broken toilet door lying on the floor of the bathroom, with one 1.9mm cartridge in the doorway.
The gun was on the shower mat.
There were two phones in the bathroom on the mat.
The toilet room measured 1.4m x 1.4m.
He found two BlackBerry phones in the cupboard, checked all four phones and no calls had been made.
Shots appeared to have been fired through the door and the key was on the outside of the door. A cricket bat was lying in the bathroom and was sent for tests to see if it was used on the door.
Ballistic experts informed Botha that shots were fired at an angle and the gunmen was 1.5m away.
One bullet hit the wall.
To get from the balcony to the bathroom you would have to pass the beds, Botha said.
There were two dogs outside on the ground area beneath the bedroom.
The angle of the shots indicated they were fired through the top in a downward direction.
He found a packet of testosterone with needles.
He said there were previous incidents written about in the media regarding Pistorius. Nair runs briefly through Botha's descriptions of these.



The Paralympic sprinter denies murder, saying he shot Reeva Steenkamp thinking she was an intruder at his home.
The prosecution argues there is a risk Mr Pistorius, 26, may abscond and bail should be refused.
After the final arguments, magistrate Desmond Nair began announcing his decision at about 2:30pm (12:30GMT).
Reeva Steenkamp, 29, was a model and law graduate with a burgeoning television career.
Intent?
In his closing argument, lead prosecutor Gerrie Nel said that Oscar Pistorius's version of events was "improbable" and there was a clear risk he would flee if granted bail.
He said the athlete's statement to the court suggested he thought "I've done nothing wrong" as there was no admission of culpable homicide.
Oscar Pistorius knows he is "almost guaranteed" to serve a long term in prison, and he should not be treated differently because he is famous or because he has a disability, the prosecutor added.
"He fired four shots, not one shot," Mr Nel said.






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