Did Oscar Pistorius have time to think before he
shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last
year? That's the question that state prosecutor
Gerrie Nel dug into Thursday with a doctor who
has spent years working with the disabled athlete.
"His intention was to shoot, whoever he came
across -- if he came across anyone" in his home
on a February night last year, Nel put to the
doctor, Wayne Derman.
"I suppose if he came across an intruder or
danger, he would shoot," Derman responded.
And Pistorius was firing to kill, the prosecutor
said.
Derman, a defense witness, paused a long time
before he finally responded.
"He was aiming to neutralize the threat," the
doctor said.
Nel let those words hang in the air for a long
moment before announcing that he was done with
his questions for the day.
Pistorius, 27, is on trial for murder, and while he
admits firing the bullets that killed Steenkamp, he
pleaded not guilty. He says he mistakenly thought
he was defending himself from an intruder.
The prosecution says the two had an argument
and he deliberately murdered the model and law
school graduate, who was 29.
'Two Oscars'
Derman spent all day Thursday on the stand, first
testifying under defense questioning that Pistorius'
double amputation is key to understanding his
behavior.
Do not be taken in by the fact that Pistorius is one
of the fastest runners in the world -- remember he
is disabled, he argued.
Derman ran through a long list of the difficulties
that double amputees experience every day,
concluding: "The saddest thing I have learned
through my six years of working with athletes with
disability is that disability never sleeps.
"It's there when you go to sleep at night and it's
there when you wake up in the morning. It affects
nearly every aspect of your life," he said.
Pistorius' defense team seems to be trying to
establish that he acted reasonably, given who he
is, when he killed Steenkamp in the early hours of
Valentine's Day 2013.
Judge Thokozile Masipa must decide whether he
made a genuine mistake and, if so, whether the
mistake and his response were reasonable.
The South African Olympian's defense team has
been exploring his psychology this week.
His lawyer Kenny Oldwadge posited Thursday that
there were "two Oscars," one of whom was a
global sports star and one of whom was
"vulnerable" and "scared."
"I am stuffed without my legs on," his lawyer
quoted him as saying, using a slang term meaning
"in trouble."

Witness reliability

Prosecutor Nel went after Derman aggressively in
his cross-examination, exploring whether the
shooting was an instinctive "fight-or-flight"
response or the result of conscious thought.
The question of whether Pistorius is found guilty of
premeditated murder could hinge on the answer.
Exchanges between the two got testy, with Nel
trying to get the doctor to explain Pistorius'
actions moment by moment on the night he killed
Steenkamp.
Derman said it was impossible for him to answer
theoretical questions about what Pistorius might
have been thinking or doing at a given instant
because he, Derman, knew what had actually
happened after the moment in question.
Frustrated, he appealed to Judge Masipa, but she
sided with Nel, firmly instructing the witness to
answer his questions or say he didn't know.
Nel began his cross-examination by suggesting
that Derman was not a trustworthy witness
because he had a responsibility to Pistorius as his
doctor. Masipa rejected the objection.
The prosecutor kept up the attack, demanding to
know when Derman had made particular notes on
Pistorius, whether the court should believe
Derman or Pistorius when their evidence differed,
and the meaning of the word "subsequent."
Derman grew irritated with Nel when the
prosecutor responded: "That's not true" to a
statement Derman gave, and he appealed to the
judge that Nel was being "unprofessional."
Masipa agreed and ordered Nel to withdraw the
remark.
Nel, in turn, showed annoyance with Derman
asking which "incident" he was referring to.

"The killing!" Nel shouted back at him.
Suicide risk
The defense has been exploring Pistorius' mental
health for several days.
On Wednesday, his lead lawyer Barry Roux said
Pistorius is depressed, suffering from post-
traumatic stress disorder, and is a suicide risk,
according to the doctors who spent a month
evaluating his mental health.
But he does not appear to have a history of
abnormal aggression or psychopathic tendencies
linked to "rage-type murders in intimate relations,"
they found.
The conclusions are a "slam-dunk for the
defense," CNN legal expert Kelly Phelps said.
The psychiatric report seemed to suggest that
Pistorius' version of events was plausible.
"When Mr. Pistorius's appraisal of the situation is
that he might be physically threatened, a fear
response follows that might seem extraordinary
when viewed from the perspective of a normal
bodied person, but normal in the context of a
disabled person with his history," the doctors
found.
Several witnesses have testified that Pistorius
tends to arm himself and go toward danger, rather
than away from it, when he thinks he is under
threat.
At the trial's conclusion, Judge Masipa will have to
decide whether Pistorius, 27, genuinely made a
mistake or deliberately murdered his girlfriend.
If Masipa does not believe the athlete thought
there was an intruder, she will find him guilty of
murder and sentence him to a prison term ranging
from 15 years to life. South Africa does not have
the death penalty.
If Masipa accepts that Pistorius did not know that
Steenkamp was the person he was shooting at,
she could find him guilty of culpable homicide, a
lesser charge than murder, or acquit him,
according to CNN analyst Phelps.
A verdict of culpable homicide would leave the
sentence at Masipa's discretion.
The trial is scheduled to continue Monday for a
38th day.

http://m.cnn.com/primary/cnnd_fullarticle?topic=newsarticle&category=cnnd_world_africa&pagesize=10&pageno=4&articleId=cnn/2014/07/03/world/africa/oscar-pistorius-trial

If this was to be in 9ja, pistorious would be taken to the shrine to swear and oath whose reaction is instant...

#NOTIMETOWASTE