Judge Desmond Nair has granted Oscar Pistorius bail ahead of his trial for the alleged murder of Reeva Steenkamp. Bail has been set at 1m rand (£73,000), and Pistorius has been ordered not to return to Silver Woods estate, where the shooting took place, and to report to a police station on Mondays and Fridays.
These were the judge's main reasons:
• He did not think Pistorius was a flight risk.
• He did not think the prosecution had shown that Pistorius had a propensity for violence.
• He did not think the prosecution had shown there would be public outrage if he were released on bail.
• He did not think the prosecution's case was so strong that Pistorius's only reasonable reaction were he released would be to flee.
But the judge also pointed out holes in Pistorius's story that may prove important when the case comes to trial:
• Why did he not ascertain Steenkamp's whereabouts?
• Why did he not verify who was in the toilet?
• Why did Steenkamp not scream back from the toilet?
• Why did the deceased and the accused not escape through the bedroom door rather than venture into the toilet?
• Why would the accused venture into danger knowing the intruder was in the toilet, leaving himself open to attack? He returned to the dangerous area. What if the intruder was waiting for him?
And he said he had difficulty with the defence's version of why the accused slept on the other side of the bed from usual that night.
“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” ― Stephen King
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