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
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
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