“When the Fox hears the Rabbit scream he comes
a-runnin', but not to help.”
This post
is a follow up to my prior story about the “Blade Runner”—Oscar Pistorius. Oscar
Pistorius will be indicted for murder this coming Monday. It is expected
at this point that he will go on trial in early 2014, about a year after he
allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home on Valentine’s Day.
In a cruel twist of fate, his court appearance will be on the date of his dead girlfriend’s birthday.
Pistorius
was a famous and revered athlete because he is a double-amputee Olympian. He
was a star not only in the world of professional track and field sports, but to
anybody who admires underdog stories.
Pistorius
showed us that seemingly unachievable goals can be attained with an indomitable
spirit and the willingness to commit a lifetime to working hard with what God gives
us when we are born.
Unfortunately,
Pistorius’ achievements have all crumbled as a result of a brutal, savage, and
senseless murder.
As
mentioned in my prior post about Pistorius, he was arrested for shooting his
girlfriend numerous times with a 9mm pistol as she cowered in a bathroom. She
was shot in her head, elbow and hip.
She was
thirty years old.
When
police questioned Pistorius about the shooting, he gave some bizarre statements
about repeatedly shooting through the bathroom door because he thought there
was an intruder in his home and he was terrified. Police investigated the scene of the crime,
compared the crime scene with Pistorius’ version of the shooting, and very easily
determined that Pistorius was lying.
Amazingly,
one of his numerous excuses was that he shot through the bathroom door because
he thought there was an intruder (in the bathroom?) and it was pitch black in
the house. He said that he thought Reeva was still in bed, which begs the
question, why would he not make sure she was safe before spraying bullets?
Laurie Peters, a criminologist, says
the fact that he didn't check whether Reeva, whom he shot four times while she
was in the bathroom, was in bed or not was illuminating. She says: "He
didn't even bother to find out where Reeva was before he fired blindly into the
dark. That would be a red flag to me because psychologically the first thing
you would do is find the people you want to protect."
Pistorius
faces a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years in prison if convicted on the
charge of premeditated murder. Police
said this week they had completed their six-month investigation and are
convinced Pistorius "had a charge to answer to," leading to the
indictment. Pistorious’
lawyers want the charge reduced to culpable homicide, which essentially means
that he had no “intention” to kill his girlfriend (albeit firing numerous times
through a bathroom door where lshe was located and no doubt screaming for her
life). Pistorious has posted bail and is free pending trial.
Additional
charges are possible according to authorities. Although law enforcement
officials have not disclosed any information, media reports have recently
leaked that charges relating to Pistorius allegedly discharging a firearm
recklessly in two other incidents would be added to the indictment.
Pistorius
apparently had incidents in the past exhibiting a troubling lack of control
with impulse and anger.
Let’s wait
to see if fame and fortune does not blind the decision makers of Pistorius’
fate---causing a disregard of the pain that Reeva suffered in her last
terrifying minutes of life---as is increasingly the norm these days.
~Leonardo
G. Renaud
