There are two stories emerging from the court proceedings underway in South Africa, which began yesterday to determine if Oscar Pistorius should be allowed bail after he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp with a 9 mm pistol on February 14th. The first is about the evidence collected by police on that night, and Pistorius’s explanation for its more damning aspects. The second is the media coverage of the first.
Even before a tabloid’s touch, it all seems rather salacious. A national athletic star shoots his model girlfriend, who has a law degree, on Valentine’s Day. These are enough details to send the editors of church newsletters into a tizzy of anticipation. Throw in a possible love triangle with another national sporting star in South Africa, add the “boxes and boxes” of steroids and testosterone that were found at the scene, and don’t forget about the bloody cricket bat that was supposedly used to bash in the door. Now, it seems we can add a feisty legal duel between prosecution and defence.
Suddenly, memories of the O.J. Simpson trial begin to elicit yawns.
