Preview

Oscar Pistorius Controversy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
734 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Oscar Pistorius Controversy
Dr. Ochola
English 101 B02
MWA 2
20 February 2014
Can a Killer be Innocent?
In Mark Seal “The Shooting Star and the Model,” talks about Oscar Pistorius killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The article begins with the date and time of the phone call made to detective Hilton Botha. Detective Botha is a twenty-four year veteran of the South African Police Service and he knows Oscar Pistorius very well because of his intense criminal background. Seal then begins talking about Pistorius background and how that may have an effect on the case. The author concludes the article with the trial of the murder and Pistorius’ jail sentence. There are claims that it is more to the murder case than it just being an accident. The evidence
…show more content…
Reeva Steenkamp was a beautiful twenty-nine year-old model and reality-TV star. She and Pistorius had only been dating for four short months. During Pistorius statement to the court, he explained that he yelled at the person in the bathroom, and then yelled for Reeva to call the police. Reeva never answered him. Investigators also wanted to know where Pistorius was standing when he fired the gun. He said he did not have his legs attached but used his stumps. “Why would a burglar lock himself in a bathroom cubicle? Why would the victim be shot through her shorts if she was using the toilet in the middle of the night? And why would she have taken her cell phone into the bathroom at three A.M.?”(Seal). These are all questions that Pistorius could not answer. Using this evidence in the murder case Seal feels like he has supported his …show more content…
Since detective Botha is a veteran in the police force he is used to these types of cases. Detective Botha also has dealt with Oscar Pistorius previously. He arrested Pistorius in 2009 for slamming a door in a girl’s face that lead to severe injuries. However, charges were dropped because Pistorius denied the allegation. Detective Botha is also one of the cops in South Africa that has not gone rogue. In a country corrupted by bad police behavior , where eight officers were recently charged with murder for allegedly tying a man’s hands to the back of a police van and dragging him down the street (he was later found dead in his cell), Botha is proud of his record (Seal). Botha says he investigates every case as if it were his own being murdered, Botha believes Pistorius’ cases is a simple case; a boyfriend kills his girlfriend; he says this happens every eight hours in South

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Article about African Policemen brutality, this case was about a police officer who arrested a taxi cab driver named Mido Macia because he parked illegally and handcuffed him and dragged him by their police car. Mido died in prosecution after being dragged. The policemen went to court and they claimed that he fell out of the van and the handcuff accidently hooked onto their van, but the judge found this unacceptable because when they realized they should have got him help but they didn’t. They we found guilty for the murder of Mido Macia, the family of Mido Macia had a sense of victory from this case and was able to work on their healing of their love one that they lost in police brutality.…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this unending circumstance of the former football player Orenthal James Simpson accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994. The investigators reigned the knife out after weeks of forensic testing. The authorities determined that there is no link to the murder. However, one of the reason police had presented proof of knife last month. They had learned that the knife had been in the proprietorship of a retired L.A. cop for more than twelve years. The officer acknowledged it from the construction worker who told him that he found the knife while working with a crew tearing down Simpson’s Brentwood estate. Simpson was above suspicion of stabbing to death, his ex-wife and Goldman in 1994 outside her condominium.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This aboriginal man claimed to have been there the night of the murder and testifies that Tshuanahusset was the one that murdered William Robinson. Yet, he did not firsthand see Tshuanahusset kill William Robinson, nor did he immediately report him for the murder either. It was fifteen months before Sue Tas went to the authorities with information on the murder, and this rose no suspicion for neither the authorities nor the judicial system. The fact that Sue Tas waited this long to inform the authorities rises suspicion that perhaps he was lying because there was belief that Sue Tas was Tshuanahusset killed. Although this suspicion was out in the open, the authorities and judicial system still solely relied on Sue Tas as the only witness and did not look further into these circumstances. This could have simply been that Sue Tas saw the opportunity to pin an open case murder on Tshuanahusset which would explain why he reported him much later from when the murder actually occurred. Also, Sue Tas was threatened by his own tribe and chief after he went to the authorities and reported Tshuanahusset. This information was set aside by all authorities because they simply did not want to complicate the investigation and close it as soon as possible. This information could have meant that Sue Tas did something that was unforgivable by his tribe and this would not be revealing information, but perhaps this could be that he lied about the information to falsely convict Tshuanahusset. Furthermore, the complication of Sue Tas as the only witness should have encouraged authorities and the judicial system to look further into the murder case of William Robinson and not solely rely on one witness, yet through they perfunctory behaviour they closed the case quickly and…

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stealing Lincoln's Body

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The author is Thomas J. Craughwell, born in 1956, and still living today. The book was written in 2007, when he was at the age of 51 years old. In the annotated bibliography it is shown that the author used a tremendous amount of sources. Providing ten pages of bibliography it seems he utilizes many primary sources however the majority consisted of secondary sources. From reading the style of the book and the bibliography, it was revealed that he was indeed bias. For example, the primary sources he used were based on a human aspect which through interviews can provide human bias. However Craughwell shows no personal bias in descriptions of the people in his book; he uses past police records and describes the characters based on these reports (173). I find that the facts presented are correct because Thomas J. Craughwell clearly shows his amount of knowledge and the research of this incident along with his research team. Yes, his interpretations seem valid, and he even gave us direct wording of the…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Beginning today I was called to visit Main street to determine whether a man died accidentally or was he murdered in cold blood . It was November 13, 2008 at approximately 1:30 am . I arrived at the crime scene at about 1:40 am the victim's name was Arthur Volupides , He was 36 years old , he was married to Queenie Volupides . I saw the victim , on the floor with a big wound in his head and with his legs on the stairs . After investigating a little more I approach to the one witnesses Queenie Volupides after asking the routine questions like where were you at the time of his death? Or At what time did you arrive at the house? After answering my questions she said “ Arthur slipped and fell down the stairs . He was coming down for another drink…

    • 174 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a police detective, I see a lot of things ordinary men can’t even fathom—serial killers, rapists, drug lords—but nothing could have prepared me for the Dyer Street case. It started out like any other home invasion: a local woman went to bed with her family when all of a sudden she heard a scream coming from her son’s bedroom. When she entered the room she found her son on the floor, unresponsive.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Police Brutality Case

    • 2262 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In today’s society, many things are developing and changing, such as strategies in law enforcement, as well as what is important to cover on media and whether it is the full story or not to gain more popularity on that broadcast. There has been an uprise in the amount of cases involving police officers shooting someone without probable cause, physically assaulting someone, etc. that is being presented on the news. One such cases was the Michael Brown case.…

    • 2262 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A large issue is based around how offenders who commit horrible crimes do not end up being punished the way the victims and victim’s families feel they should be. In one of the most controversial Canadian cases, Karla Homolka made a plea deal, where she was sentenced to twelve years after assisting in the killings of three young girls. This case was difficult for the public to understand. In the beginning they viewed Homolka as a woman who had been beaten by her husband. However, after more information came out about the case, it became apparent that Homolka had more involvement in the murders than originally thought. Kilty and Frigon (2007) found that, “once the videotapes of the sexual assaults were found, acceptance of Homolka’s discourse of forced participation seemed to dissipate, and the re-construction of Homolka as dangerous and narcissistic ensued” (p.45). Outrage from the public followed, as it was described that Homolka was smiling and enjoying herself in the videos of the sexual assaults against the women. Conversely, court officials were found as saying that, “if the videotapes had been available at the time, Karla Homolka would have found herself in the prisoner’s box beside Paul Bernardo” (Kilty and Frigon, 2007, p. 55). Unfortunately these positions made no difference as the plea deal was already decided. This case creates bias towards plea-bargaining because it shows how unfair the system can be. Serial murder is described as a person who commits three or more killings over a period of time. Such as Homolka, though she received a lenient sentence compared to her counterpart, Paul Bernardo. Leniency, as shown in the Homolka case makes society uncomfortable with plea bargains because the feeling is that a person who commits a crime should do the appropriate sentence. However, Smith (1986) found…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With times changing and individuals obtaining more powerful mobile, almost every move a person makes can be recorded or looked back on in some sort of way. With this great power, comes great scrutiny for not only everyday individuals, but for the individuals that protect us day in and day out. Law enforcement has suffered more scrutiny, and has obtained a substantial amount of media coverage over the past few years. This coverage has not been positive, and often highlights the mistakes, and aggressive actions taken by the officers of the law. With the framing of police officers changing from being outstanding citizens who uphold the law, to vicious animals who abuse their power, one begins to question the reasoning for all the brutality.…

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    crimonlogy

    • 1520 Words
    • 8 Pages

    When a crime attracts a lot of attention, the media will sometimes explore the offender’s background and motives. Now that you yourself have become an “entry-level criminologist,” you too can attempt to explain why a particular crime was committed.…

    • 1520 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In February 2009, 12 year old Jordan Brown was the main suspect in his own stepmother’s murder. She was found with a gunshot wound to the head, she was eight months pregnant. Although it was very rare to charge someone so young as an adult, but the Pennsylvania prosecutor left them little choice, it is also very rare for a 12 year old boy to commit a violent crime such as he did. Jordan’s defense argues that there were no true witnesses to his crime, no actual proof, but they also say the 4 year old daughter had heard a loud boom, which would have obviously been the gun being shot.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Crash

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Officer (Matt Dylan) recently got off the phone with Shaniqua, took out anger on this couple, and did sexual advances on the woman before releasing them with a “warning” – Applies to sociological and anthropological views.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Amanda Knox

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There were only a few key pieces of key evidence found at the Kercher crime scene, none of which can be positively linked to Amanda Knox. The key pieces of evidence that led to her conviction were a knife, a bloody footprint, and Kercher’s bra clip with Amanda’s boyfriend’s DNA on it (Longhini). After reviewing this evidence, many experts will agree that Knox’s conviction is absolutely absurd. Because of the lack of evidence and no suspects, the Perugian investigators used the media’s influence to persuade the judges and citizens of Knox’s guilt.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Channel 2 Action News has stated that no fatal police shooting has made it to court from 2010, two-thirds of police cases never went to a grand jury, and of those 49 cases that made it to the grand jury, only 9 involved an indictment because the grand jury was only asked to determine if the shooting was justified or unjustified (Schrade and Peebles). A shooting involved case that received national recognition (not military related) was the death of Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old woman who was tragically killed by two Atlanta police officers during a botched drug raid in 2006. The officers were told by an undercover informant that he bought drugs from a dealer there named "Sam;" however, the man who claimed to be the informant said he never bought drugs at Johnston's house. The two police officers involved in the shooting pleaded guilty to manslaughter and several other charges, and a third officer was also indicted in the murder case. Authority abuses their powers upheld by the government, and in more recent cases, get prosecuted for their actions due to technology such as camera footage and social media. With the use of social media, it appears that initial force is used often, increasing the belief that officers use their power inappropriately. Too many shooting involved deaths have occurred in such a short amount of time of apprehending the suspects, leading to the thought that a thorough investigation is not conducted before using lethal…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the initial search Dombrowski’s revolver was not found in a search of the rental car he was driving at the time of the accident. The police returned to the rental car to look again for the service revolver, so it would not end up in the wrong hands. (Call 2012) Through this secondary search evidence of a possible crime was revealed to police officers. Information resulted in the police discovering the body of a murder victim and evidence linking Dombrowski to the killing. (Call 2012) Dombrowski was charged with murder by the police resulting from the search. This case was the foundation of these types of searches being justified by police officers during special circumstances.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics