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Friday, 7 March 2014

Oscar Pistorius Trial Day 5: Should his Ex be a key witness in this case?.....



Pistorius "cheated on me with Reeva Steenkamp", ex-girlfriend tells court.....
 
 
Oscar Pistorius' ex-girlfriend told his trial he once fired his gun from his car sunroof after becoming angry with police.

An emotional day in court then climaxed with testimony from a security guard shocked to find Mr Pistorius carrying a dying Reeva Steenkamp.

The athlete had earlier told him "everything is fine" when he rang him after shots were heard.

Mr Pistorius denies both murdering Ms Steenkamp and shooting from his car.
 
Early in her testimony, former girlfriend Samantha Taylor broke down while discussing two break-ups with the athlete.
She said Mr Pistorius had twice been unfaithful, with the relationship finally ending when he "cheated" on her with Reeva Steenkamp.
The defence pointed to emails it said proved the relationship with Ms Taylor was already over by the time Mr Pistorius began seeing Ms Steenkamp, but Ms Taylor insisted the relationship was not "officially" over when he started dating Ms Steenkamp.
The model also said the alleged shooting incident happened when he became angry after a police officer stopped him for speeding, saw the gun on the car seat and told him it could not be left there.
She accepted that he laughed around the time he actually fired the gun.
Ms Taylor testified that Mr Pistorius kept his gun "on him all the time," and described him as a man who could get very angry.

'Too shocked to help' :
Pieter Baba, a security guard working at Oscar Pistorius' gated community, the Silverwoods Country Estate, followed Ms Taylor in the witness box.

He said the athlete told him everything was "fine" when he called to investigate neighbours' reports of gunshots on the night Reeva Steenkamp was killed.

He said he made the phone call from outside the runner's villa, before dawn. His said Mr Pistorius then called him back, crying but not saying anything, before the line went dead.

When he saw Mr Pistorius carrying a dying Reeva Steenkamp down the stairs, Mr Baba said he was initially too shocked to help.

Mr Pistorius looked at the floor while Pieter Baba gave his evidence, at one point appearing to cry when the security guard described the bloody scene he found.

Defence Council Barry Roux There were several testy exchanges between Defence Counsel Roux (shown) and Prosecutor Nel

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel One of Gerrie Nel's most crucial questions for Ms Taylor came when he asked if Oscar Pistorius ever thought there was an intruder in his home when she was there - Ms Taylor described previous such incidents and said he had woken her up.
 
Crucial testimony :
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko says that while Samantha Taylor was brought in to testify in connection with the lesser firearm charge, her evidence about the alleged shooting incident is crucial to the prosecution's case over the murder charge too, as it paints Mr Pistorius as an angry, reckless gun owner.

The prosecution sought to do the same with evidence given on Wednesday, when the court heard from boxer Kevin Lerena about another incident in which Mr Pistorius is alleged to have fired a gun - in a restaurant - after it was passed to him by another friend in the group. He said Mr Pistorius asked the gun's owner to take the blame.

Towards the end of Samantha Taylor's evidence, the court was adjourned a second time, when she broke down again in the witness box.

After returning, she was asked by the prosecution if there had been other occasions when Mr Pistorius thought there was an intruder in his house.

She replied that it had happened at least twice. Crucially, she said he always woke her up before taking his gun with him to check.

Mr Pistorius claims he shot Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder, and had not attempted to wake her before picking up his gun.

If found guilty, the 27-year-old double amputee, dubbed the "blade runner", could face life imprisonment.

Neighbours' testimony :
Friday's trial began with more testimony from neighbour Johan Stipp, who on Thursday told the court he found Mr Pistorius praying over Ms Steenkamp's body as she lay dying.

Questions again focused on his and other witnesses' testimony about the timing of various screams and gunshots.

The prosecutor insisted the sounds witnesses reported do not fit Mr Pistorius' version of events, while the defence tried to draw out differences in the evidence given by the neighbours who have appeared in court so far.

Mr Pistorius again appeared distraught as the events of 14 February 2013 were recounted.

The state is seeking to convince the court that Mr Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp, a model, reality TV star and law graduate, had an argument before the athlete fired the shots that killed his girlfriend.

There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will ultimately be decided by Judge Thokozile Masipa.

#bbc

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Reveal Their Wedding Date

Instagram
INSTAGRAM
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have set a wedding date, which will officially cement their status as Kimye  The couple confirms that they will be married in Paris on May 24, 2014.
Now we await other details about the wedding...

Photos: Women Groups Protest Over Massacre And Abduction Of School Children By Boko Haram In Northern Nigeria


 
 
 









 


















Women groups, outraged over the recent spate of killings in Northern Nigeria by Boko Haram, rallied yesterday in protest.

.....The Lagos group ended their mourning march at the Lagos State Government Secretariat in Alausa, where they submitted a letter of protest for onward transmission to the Federal Government. the letter requested the FG to take drastic action against child killers.

They said the “mourning march”  is also holding simultaneously in Abuja, Port-Harcourt and Ekiti to condemn the spate of killing and abduction of  school kids by the Boko Haram Islamist sect in the north.



#saharareporters



Brandon Howard, a 31-year-old singer, Provides DNA Test to Prove He's Michael Jackson's Son .....Evidence suggests the 31-year-old singer is MJ's lovechild!!



The test results are in, and it seems, the kid is Michael Jackson's son!

According to TMZ, Brandon Howard, a 31-year-old singer who goes by the name, "B. Howard," allegedly contacted the site's staff and said that he's taken a DNA test, using an old orthodontic device of MJ's, and he wants to announce to the public that the deceased pop icon is his father, and possibly sue his estate.

Thursday (March 6), however, the staff at FilmOn.TV scooped the story and broke the news via a livestreamed press conference, declaring that they've seen the evidence and there's a 99.9 percent chance that it's true. There's also the suspicious lyrics to MJ's "Billie Jean," they recalled.

Although MJ croons, "the kid is not my son," apparently, he was in denial. Howard's mother, Miki Howard, was a pop singer who toured with MJ and was represented by his father, Joe Jackson. Miki reportedly sometimes went by the the nickname "Billy."

In his first public statement, B. Howard doesn't deny that MJ is his father, but he did say that he never contacted TMZ and has no intentions of filing a lawsuit.

"Number one, I did not call TMZ or anything like that. Didn't put out a story, nothing," he insisted via a video message posted to his Facebook.

"Number two, I've never self-proclaimed to be Michael Jackson's son.

"Number three, I'm definitely not suing the estate. I've been taken care of very well.
"
Number four, it is true I did do a DNA test but it had nothing to do with any of this."



Meanwhile, reports from across the pond add another plot twist. According to the Daily Mail, Augie Johnson, a singer who laid background vocals on MJ's Off the Wall claims that he is actually Howard's father.

"I know Brandon’s my son — I was there in the delivery room, I have the pictures of him being born. I got the records, I got everything," Johnson said. "Before me, Miki wasn't with anyone else — she didn't even know Michael at that time. But you know what — I love my son and he can do whatever he likes. I'm not tripping on this — I want Brandon to have a successful career."

No word yet on whether or not the DNA paperwork being circulated is officially legit.

#bet.com

 

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Day 4 of Oscar Pistorius' Murder Trial: Major Updates





Today marked day four of Oscar Pistorius murder trial, and it proved an emotional few hours for the track star. Yet another neighbour and witness to the murder scene gave his testimony, but it seems it might help Pistorius’ defense. Here are the updates:

Raw: Pistorius Covers Head During Testimony
1. Neighbour Johan Stipp—who happens to be a doctor—described arriving on the scene of Reeva Steenkamp’s murder after hearing gunshots. He said he was surprised to learn that Pistorius had not called an ambulance yet when he arrived, despite the grisly scene. That seemed like damning testimony, but…
2. Stipp found Pistorius desperately trying to save Steenkamp, and screaming and praying for her life. “He definitely wanted her to live, yes. He looked sincere to me. He was crying. There were tears on his face,” he said.
3. Pistorius broke down in court and covered his head protectively as the doctor described the more graphic aspects of the scene, like the appearance of Steenkamp’s brain tissue and the milky appearance of her eyes.
 
 
 
#okmagazine