Ocsar Pistorius : What will Psychiatic Evaluation Involve ? Part 4

Oscar Pistorius: six questions for Judge Masipa

1 May :
AS the Oscar Pistorius trial takes a two-week break, Judge Thokozile Masipa is likely to reflect on what she had heard over the last seven weeks. The prosecution has called all of its witnesses and Pistorius has spent seven days in the witness stand. The defence still has more than a dozen witnesses to call before Judge Masipa will have to decide whether Pistorius deliberately murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.

Here are five questions she will have to take into consideration:

Has Pistorius ‘tailored’ his testimony?
The prosecution has accused Pistorius of "tailoring" his evidence, although the athlete argued that these were genuine mistakes. For example, in his bail statement, Pistorius said he "went onto the balcony" to retrieve a fan but in court he said he did not go fully out onto the balcony. He initially said he "whispered" to Steenkamp to get down and call the police, but later denied whispering and said he spoke in a "low tone". The judge will have to decide if these are reasonable mistakes to make or whether, as prosecutor Gerrie Nel argues, Pistorius was "thinking of something that never happened" and struggling to "keep up with an untruth".


Is Pistorius’s version of events even possible?

The athlete struggled to explain why some parts of his testimony contradicted the state’s evidence. Pathologist Gert Saayman said Steenkamp had eaten about two hours before her death, around the time a neighbour heard an argument at the house. Pistorius, who claimed they were both asleep at that time, admitted: "I don't have an explanation for it." The judge will have to decide if it is possible that Steenkamp got out of bed and went to the toilet without Pistorius hearing or seeing her go, while Nel says the most "improbable" part of the athlete’s story is that Steenkamp never uttered a word from the toilet before she was shot.

How reliable is the police evidence?

The prosecution has used police crime scene photographs to suggest that Pistorius’s story is a lie. If his duvet was on the bedroom floor, as it is in one photograph, the athlete would struggle to convince the court he thought Steenkamp was in bed. The prosecution claims he could not have later ran out onto the balcony for help as there is a fan in the way and that the curtains are open in his room, despite Pistorius claiming he had closed them before he heard a noise in the bathroom. However, the defence has proven that the police moved items around in the house that night and Pistorius insists that his bedroom was not how he left it.

Did Pistorius and Steenkamp argue before the shooting?

Police IT expert Captain Francois Moller told the court he examined thousands of text messages sent between Steenkamp and Pistorius, of which 90 per cent showed a "loving, normal" relationship. However, a small number portrayed Pistorius as a controlling and jealous boyfriend. In one message, sent a few weeks before her death, Steenkamp wrote: "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me." Nevertheless, in Steenkamp’s Valentine’s Day card to Pistorius, which he opened after her death, she declared her love for him for the first time. Neighbours say they heard a woman’s screams before the sound of gunshots, but Pistorius strenuously denies they had been arguing. Masipa will have to decide if it is possible that the witnesses mistook Pistorius’s terrified shouts and screams for that of a woman.

Is Pistorius's emotional state an act?

The Paralympian has wept, retched and held his head in his hands for much of the trial, causing the court to adjourn on more than one occasion. Asked by the prosecution why he was being so emotional, he said he was "traumatised" by the night when he lost the person that he cared about. Others have accused him of playing up his distress, and one journalist has accused him of having been coached by a professional actor. Jani Allen, a British-born journalist wrote an open letter to the athlete in which she said: "I have it from a reliable source that you are taking acting lessons for your days in court." She gave no specific details and a spokeswoman for the Pistorious family dismissed the claims as fictitious. Masipa will have to consider Nel’s accusation that the athlete was using his emotions to dodge difficult questions during the cross-examination, although the judge herself pointed out: "He has been emotional throughout."

If Pistorius believed Steenkamp was an intruder, did he act reasonably?

Even if the judge believes that Pistorius thought Steenkamp was an intruder, he could still face a murder conviction. Pistorius insists that he fired the gun "without thinking" but the state’s ballistics evidence suggests there was a pause in between some of the shots. Pistorius initially told the court he had "aimed" at the bathroom door, but later said he did not. The judge will have to decide if Pistorius: planned to kill before firing the gun, which could amount to premeditated murder; intended to kill as he fired the shots, which could amount to murder; or whether he acted negligently, which could amount to culpable homicide.