介绍:
Brian: Ex-Paralympian sprinter Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison into house arrest. Pistorius was found guilty of manslaughter after shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013. The ex-Olympian was sentenced to five years in prison but served only ten months before becoming being released. Under certain sections of the South African Criminal code, a prisoner sentenced to five years or less only has to serve one-sixth of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Pistorius will be subject to electronic monitoring and have to report to his local police station. In an unusual turn, prosecutors have chosen to appeal the original verdict of manslaughter, and seek and want Pistorius to be re-accused of murder. Has his fame led to him being prosecuted in a less than fair manner, or is it potentially working against him now, with the prosecution looking to re-open the case?
WY: If Pistorius is convicted of murder by a panel of five judges at the appeal, he faces going back to prison for 15 years, and that is the minimum sentence for murder in South Africa. And also, the state has appealed to manslaughter, changed to murder, and will argue their case at the Supreme Court of Appeal in November later this year.
Lincoln: That’s quite an interesting turn of events, because you don’t often see the state, or the prosecution, actually appealing the verdict. Usually, it’s the other way around, so it’s quite unique.
Brian: Right, that is the question here, because most murder cases, or most, any kind of criminal or civil cases at all, legal cases, are not known to the public.
Lincoln: Arguably, it’s actually quite strange that the case itself was actually being broadcast, because in South Africa, you have this difference in media law between public interest and what’s in the public’s interest, and the difference between the two is if it’s in the public’s interest, it usually has something to do with policy or law, or if someone’s being tried and it would have an effect on South Africa as a whole, in terms of who you vote for. But when something’s just interesting to the public, there’s no real reason for the case to be broadcast. Actually, the judge decided that the case would be broadcast in the interests of fairness, but that, in and of itself, might have placed a bias in terms of the news streaming in and people getting access to the trial itself. I also think it’s interesting that the prosecution has chosen to appeal. Usually, South Africa has double jeopardy laws, and this basically means that you can’t be tried for the same crime twice with the same evidence. But the judge has decided they’re allowed to appeal for a new criminal trial. Arguably, that wouldn’t happen if Pistorius wasn’t famous.
Brian: Because people follow this stuff. The fact that people are being treated differently because they’re famous, people are willing to buy those magazines, or click on those articles online and look at that stuff, you know.
WY: Mm. And also this case quickly reminded me of the Simpson case, and also on social media that Donald Trump has also tweeted that “Oscar Pistorius will likely only serve 10 months for the cold-blooded murder of his girlfriend – another O.J.”
Brian: Right, that’s Donald Trump there, comparing it to the O.J. Simpson trial in the 90s in the United States, where, also very controversial, he was also accused of murder, and I believe he got off as well. Both of these cases, no matter what the outcome was going to be, it was going to be a controversial sort of thing.
Lincoln: People are often quite emotional and quite outraged. Actually, Pistorius was supposed to be released in August already, but there was a protest against it because August is women’s month in South Africa, it’s the month that has National Women’s Day. A lot of the reactions are quite emotional, and a lot of people have reacted really, really emotionally.
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