This would be my closing argument if I represented Oscar. You are all welcome to take the role of My Lady:
Why are we really here? Nobody knows what really happened between Oscar and Reeva. Those are the only people that know what led to this tragic end. But why are we here? Because Oscar Pistorius broke down every time when graphic details about that fateful night emerged? He admitted to killing her. Is it inconceivable that someone would shoot their partner by mistake. in a crime-ridden country like ours?
Why are here? Because Oscar shot through a sunroof of a car and involved in a gun going off at a restaurant? Because there were Whatsapp messages between two lovers? Some of the testimony come from people who loathe Oscar. Samantha Taylor. She has bias. Yes, the prosecution corroborated her story. Butnshe hates Oscar.
But why are we here? The Watermelon Shooting range incident? He said all that in jest. That video only emerged when Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed. If Oscar was such a menace to society why didn't anybody report him to the police? So far there is no concrete evidence that would allow the judge to conclude beyond all reasonable doubt that Oscar Pistorius is a murderer. So why are we here?
But while we are here, let's talk about the police. How they messed up the crime scene. Embarrassed us to the who,e world with allegations of some of the accused belongings being stolen. Investigator with a attempted murder charge or charges hanging over his head. No, we are okay with all this we are just baying for the blood of the man who admitted to shooting his girlfriend, mistaking her for an intruder.
We sat there, edited and circulated pictures of Oscar's crying episodes. To a point that we were led to believe that he was acting up and not really crying. I hated myself for being compassionate sometimes, because I was up against a huge wave of Oscar haters. But I honestly observed an apologetic, remorseful young man. Someone who's been locked up in their own world for too long. Missed out on being humane to others. Missed out on compassion and all the ingredients that make great people in our society because of his fame, money and pressure to keep succeeding.
People who are unrelentingly vilified tend to end up cold and hard. I think it's hard for Oscar to do that. I don't think he can fake vulnerability like that just to get sympathy.
I quickly remember a famous law series that was on TV a few years ago. The defence attorney in this series spoke about something called Schadenfreude. From the German words schaden and freude, damage and joy. It means to take spiteful, malicious delight in the misfortune of others. We also dismiss this as an ugly side of human nature. In early 2004 an American academic captured schadenfreude on a brain scan. It's apparently a physiological,medical,phenomenon. When we see others fall, it sometimes causes a chemical to be released in the dorsal striatum of the brain which actually cause us to feel pleasure.
If you watch the news or read the papers. There you will see the undeniable delicious joy of the media and the public in the Oscar Pistorius plight. I have no doubt you want Oscar Pistorius to be punished. He is obnoxious, changed girlfriends just like that, unruly when he's drunk, he is cold and materialistic, unlikable... And it might bring you all pleasure to see him go to jail.
Was it proven beyond reasonable doubt that he intended to kill Reeva Steenkamp.
Is the only possible route to a guilty verdict here Schadenfreude?
Thank you my lady
