“A sociopath is one
who sees others as impersonal objects to be manipulated to fulfill their own
narcissistic needs without any regard for the hurtful consequences of their
selfish actions."
~R. Alan Woods
While I always attempt to keep an objective
perspective in my posts, in my opinion based on all of the facts and information
I have read about the death of Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius is a murderer. His
sense of self-entitlement and constant adulation from the public only stoked
his tremendous ego and delirious concept of himself. He is a person who feels
that he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. Can you say OJ Simpson?
(at least OJ is now in prison for something) I hope, on behalf of the young
lady he slaughtered, that the public does not continue to be enamored with him,
and that he spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.
Let me tell you why I believe the above about the
“Blade Runner.”
When I watched Oscar Pistorius
run in these past Olympics, I was deeply moved by the fact that he had overcome
so many obstacles in his life to reach his goals. Being a world class track
star with no legs was simply amazing to me. The trials and tribulations he
overcame in his life gave me such inspiration. Knowing that if a person really
believes in themselves, and works hard towards a seemingly impossible goal,
makes them a hero. I was so proud and
happy for him. By all accounts, all South Africans also considered him a hero
and placed him on a towering pedestal, which glorifies everything that is good
and pure about sports. The concept of overcoming overwhelming odds and reaching
success is a story that deeply resonates with all of us.
I must admit, that when the story
broke that his beautiful, educated girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, had been killed
in his home, I initially did not pay much attention to the media coverage.
Since we are constantly blasted by news day and night, and in all different
manners, I have been admittedly desensitized and rarely pay attention to the
news. Like a lot of people, I assumed that some burglar broke into Pistorius’
house. Fearing for his safety, he fired shots to protect himself. Sadly, the
person on the other side of the door was his girlfriend, and she was killed. It
wasn’t until I started hearing arguments and heated discussions that I decided
that I would take a closer look.
Facts About The Case
The pertinent facts are as follows:
Early on Valentine's Day morning, Oscar Pistorius, the
double-amputee Olympian who is arguably South
Africa's biggest sporting star, shot through a bathroom
door at his home in Pretoria
and killed his girlfriend, 29-year-old model and law school graduate Reeva
Steenkamp.
Pistorius says he walked to the bathroom on his stumps, and
then shot through the door. Investigators say the angle of the bullet holes
suggest Pistorius was standing tall on his prosthetics. The police theory, they
claim, gives credence to a charge of premeditation. If Pistorius had time to
put on his prosthetics, they'll argue, then he wasn't getting out of bed
quickly to pursue an intruder.
A front page article in The Times (of South Africa)
quoted a police officer who said he had contact with Pistorius after
Wednesday's hearings. "He's convinced he'll be out by the weekend and back
on the track before the end of the year," the officer said. Would an
innocent man be that confident? Could a guilty man be that delusional? If that
quote is accurate, psychologists could have a field day dissecting it.
Police found two boxes of testosterone, syringes and needles
in a bedroom cabinet. Later, a police spokesman admitted the contents of the
box were unknown. Testosterone is a banned substance by the IOC. The defense
says the boxes contained an herbal remedy commonly used for sexual enhancement
purposes. Pistorius is 26 years old.
Pistorius has argued in court that he was closing his
balcony doors Feb. 14 when he heard a noise from the bathroom. Fearing an
intruder, and without his prosthetic legs on, he grabbed a gun from under his
bed and fired through the closed bathroom door, he told the court.
But prosecutors say that's implausible, arguing that the
gun's holster was found under the side of the bed where Steenkamp was sleeping,
and that Pistorius would have seen she wasn't there.
Prosecutors argue that Pistorius, a double-amputee, took the
time to put on his carbon-fiber prosthetic legs and walk to the bathroom, where
he fired the gun, hitting Steenkamp three times. Their insistence that
Pistorius took a moment to put the legs on indicates that he thought out and
planned to kill Steenkamp.
There was a "deliberate aiming of shots at the toilet
from about 1.5 meters [about 5 feet]," prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.
They also say the angle at which the shots were fired shows
that Pistorius was already wearing his prosthetics when he fired.
"[The angle] seems to me down. Fired down,"
officers told the court Feb. 20, suggesting that Pistorius was standing high up
on his artificial legs.
Pistorius says he did not put on the prosthetics, and was on
his stumps, and felt vulnerable when he shot through the bathroom door.
Police said no calls to the police or ambulance service were
made on any of the four cell phones -- two iPhones and two BlackBerrys -- found
in the bathroom and bedroom of Pistorius' home. Investigators said that guards
at the gated estate called Pistorius, who told them he was "all
right." The call was not disconnected and they could hear him crying,
police said.
Pistorius says he called the manager of the housing estate,
and asked him to place a call for an ambulance. He says that he also called a
private paramedic service. According to his lawyers, there was a fifth phone
that Pistorius used to make the calls.
There had been previous incidents at his house involving allegations
of domestic violence.
My thoughts regarding the above information is, if he knew
that his girlfriend was sleeping at his house, why would he not confirm it was
her by yelling her name out loud, or asking if it was her through the bathroom
door? After all, he was armed with a
gun.
Why did he shoot four bullets through a bathroom
door---without having a clue where his girlfriend was located in the house? Also,
why would he not immediately call the police or an ambulance after finding his
girlfriend shot to death? Why were all of the shots perfectly aimed at the
upper body and head?
Finally, if he did have his prosthetics on, which he does
not sleep with, why would he take the trouble to put them on if he truly
thought there was an intruder in the house? It takes time to put prosthetics
on, and by all accounts he can easily move without them.
The savage shooting that occurred in this case, prompted a long
conversation with my wife wherein we discussed how many women are either abused
or killed by spouses or significant others.
I think the following statistics are going to shock you, the way they
did to us. We had absolutely no idea of the following:
According to domesticviolencestatistics.org,
- Every 9
seconds in the US
a woman is assaulted or beaten.
- Around the
world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex
or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Most often, the abuser is a
member of her own family.
- Domestic
violence is the leading cause of injury to women—more than car accidents,
muggings, and rapes combined.
- Studies
suggest that up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic
violence annually.
- Nearly 1
in 5 teenage girls who have been in a relationship said a boyfriend
threatened violence or self-harm if presented with a breakup.
- Everyday
in the US,
more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends.
- Ninety-two
percent of women surveyed listed reducing domestic violence and sexual
assault as their top concern.
- Domestic
violence victims lose nearly 8 million days of paid work per year in the US
alone—the equivalent of 32,000 full-time jobs.
- Based on
reports from 10 countries, between 55 percent and 95 percent of women who
had been physically abused by their partners had never contacted non-governmental
organizations, shelters, or the police for help.
- The costs
of intimate partner violence in the US alone exceed $5.8 billion
per year: $4.1 billion are for direct medical and health care services,
while productivity losses account for nearly $1.8 billion.
- Men who
as children witnessed their parents’ domestic violence were twice as
likely to abuse their own wives than sons of nonviolent parents.
- In a
1995-1996 study conducted in the 50 States and the District of Columbia, nearly 25% of
women and 7.6% of men were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current
or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or dating partner/acquaintance at
some time in their lifetime (based on survey of 16,000 participants,
equally male and female).
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S.
Dep't of Just., NCJ 181867, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate
Partner Violence, at iii (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/181867.htm
- Approximately
1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically assaulted by an intimate
partner annually in the United
States.
Patricia Tjaden & Nancy Thoennes, U.S.
Dep't of Just., NCJ 183781, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and
Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: Findings from the
National Violence Against Women Survey, at iv (2000), available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm
Traits of Professional Athletes
As I continued to hear about the shocking statistics of
domestic violence and murders, I decided to also learn more about Pistorius. I
wanted to learn more about the man, whom I had greatly admired, along with all
of South Africa.
I also wanted to examine whether his status as an elite athlete may have
impacted his actions on the night that his girlfriend was killed.
There are 12 predominant traits of an abuser. These are as
follows: 1)Charming; 2)Jealous; 3) Manipulative; 4) Controlling; 5) Claim to be
a Victim; 6) Narcissistic; 7) Inconsistent; 8) Critical; 9) Disconnected; 10)
Hypersensitive; 11) Vicious and Cruel; 12) Insincerely Repentant.
Quoting, Laura Petherbridge, 12 Traits of an Abuser.
There is no question that elite athletes are narcissistic
men. They have to be because anybody in the pursuit of greatness are people
whom the ends always justify the means. The problem with the mythologizing of
professional athletes, is the notion that they stand for something special
beyond the field of play. They don’t, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to
make them equal to the image we insist on having for them. This often affects their
personal decisions wherein they believe that they are above the rest of us and
deserve to get and do whatever they want. There is selfish entitlement that
comes with nonsensical idolatry that seals them in an airtight bubble
regardless of their feigned ability to act humble in post game interviews.
Pistorius also liked adrenaline rushes. He liked to drive
cars 155 miles per hour on wet roads, crashed his speed boat requiring 172
stitches, had a huge interest in guns and shooting, and kept dangerous animals
as pets.
Quoting, Buzz
Bissinger., The Unwarranted Mythology
of Oscar Pistorius.
According to uk.eurosport.yahoo.com,
Pistorius was accused in 2012 of threatening to cause bodily violence against
another man whom he accused of cheating with his girlfriend. The man who
Pistorius threatened stated that the girl at the center of the controversy was
not even Pistorius’ girlfriend, and admitted that he was “scared for his life.”
A charge of defamation was also brought against Pistorius. As it stands, both men
have made conflicting accusations against each other.
Oscar Pistorius subjected Reeva Steenkamp to such intense
emotional pressure in the early days of the relationship that her best friend's
father was forced to warm him to "back off".
Cecil Myers, who Miss Steenkamp lived with in Johannesburg said he had
found Pistorius to be "very moody" as he
wooed the young model who felt caged in by his attentions.
"Very nice and charming to us when they started
dating. Then he always came in to say hello. But when they began to date
steadily, he just dropped her and picked her up.
"That's not right. I call it respect. If you're in a
relationship and you pick up the 'daughter' in the house, at least come in and
say hello." After the couple's first date, Pistorius "would not leave
her alone," Mr. Myers said.
"He kept pestering her, phoning and phoning and
phoning her. Oscar was hasty and impatient and very moody – that's my
impression of him.
"She told me he pushed her a bit into a corner. She
felt caged in.”
"She was my little girl, and he shot her four times
from behind a closed door,” Mr. Myers said.
Miss Steenkamp had lived with Mr. Myers, a commercial
printer, and his wife Desi since September, and the couple's daughter Kim was
the model's closest friend in the city.
People will stay away from him now. Women too, they will be
too afraid, no girl wants to risk being killed. And if my daughter wanted to go
out with him, the shi[_]would hit the proverbial fan. Mr. Myers said he had
decided to talk to the newspaper because, "everywhere you go, it's just
Oscar, Oscar".
"Reeva was the victim, her voice must be heard too.
People must know who Reeva Steenkamp was," he said.
Miss Steenkamp did not originally plan to stay with Oscar
Pistorius the night she died but changed her mind because it became too late
for her to drive home safely, her best friend's father has said.
Miss Steenkamp, who grew up in Port Elizabeth, used to introduce him to her
friends as her "Joburg dad".
"I've got this thing with all three children (Reeva,
and his daughters, Kim and Gina), if they don't come home at night, they must
text me," Mr. Myers told South
Africa's City Press newspaper.
"Then Reeva sent the (SMS) message: 'Hi guys, I'm too
tired. It's too far to drive. I'm sleeping at Oscar's tonight. See you
tomorrow'.
"Tomorrow never dawned for her I have nightmares at
night thinking how frightened she must have been. Can you imagine how terrified
she was?"
Quoting,
Mike Pflanz
Conclusion
I know they teach you in law school that a person’s guilt
must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, etc. But, often when you walk into a
courthouse, the lawyers will tell you that you follow the law, but you do not
leave your common sense outside the courtroom door.
Given the overwhelming facts that have been provided, there
is absolutely no question in my mind that this animal killed Reeva Steenkamp.
She unfortunately crossed paths with a homicidal killer. One can only hope that
the fascination with Pestorius’ story and legend does not outweigh the terror
that abruptly ended a young girl’s life. While he showed that he did accomplish
greatness in sport, this does not transcend all of the facts that show, in the
end, he is just another plain killer.
Will celebrity outweigh tragedy? Keeping my fingers crossed
it doesn’t.
~Leonardo
G. Renaud
