The Sydney Morning Herald, via Stuff, summarises the hole that Oscar Pistorius has dug for himself. Pistorius has, of course, been helped, having been loaned a large shovel by prosecutor Gerrie Nel; check this out:
Edging towards the end of his cross-examination, prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked Oscar Pistorius who the world should blame for the athlete's actions in shooting Reeva Steenkamp dead.
After all, the wily Nel said, Pistorius says he is blameless because he just made a "terrible mistake" that night, reacting instinctively to a noise like "wood moving" in his toilet cubicle that he thought was made by a dangerous intruder.
"So who should we blame for the fact that you shot her?" Nel said, casting his arm around the court, as though anyone would do. "Should we blame Reeva? She never told you she was going to the toilet, should we not blame her?"
"No, my lady," came the quick response, addressed to the judge.
Was it the government then, Nel continued, for not doing enough about South Africa's crime problem, leaving the disabled athlete apparently so paranoid of attack that he would shoot at a closed bathroom door?
"I don't know who [is to blame], my lady," he said.
"You must be blaming somebody for this?"
"I don't, my lady, I believed there was a threat."
Pistorius' penchant for blame-shifting had been a recurring theme over the course of Nel's tough cross-examination, and the questions were a fitting way to end his take-down of the international sporting icon.
Oscar Pistorius is now in a deep hole of his own making. Nel's cross-examination of him was a combination of the skill of a surgeon, and the relentlessness of a dog with a bone. It is easy to see why Gerrie Nel is nicknamed "The Pit Bull".
The full Stuff piece is here. It is well worth a read.
