Johannesburg - Private investigator Mike Bolhuis believes that the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp could have been avoided if police had been made aware of the Tasha’s shooting incident when it had occurred.
In January last year Oscar Pistorius accidentally fired a gunshot at the trendy restaurant in Melrose Arch.
The bullet almost hit the foot of Kevin Lerena, a boxer and mutual friend of Pistorius and Steenkamp.
However the restaurant failed to report the incident to the police, as Pistorius and Steenkamp were regular customers. The incident only came to light a few days after Pistorius shot Steenkamp dead at his home.
“If the incident had been reported to the police, they would have confiscated all Oscar’s guns and taken them for ballistics,” said Bolhuis, who is doing an internal investigation into the Oscar Pistorius case.
“He has a history of just shooting off firearms, so all of his firearms would have been taken away. It would have also caused a major stir in the media and he would have thought twice about using a firearm in the future.”
Bolhuis also questioned whether Pistorius had known how to handle a firearm.
“In my opinion, if Oscar was knowledgeable about guns he would have made sure to have his first shot as a blank if he wanted to scare away an ‘intruder’. He could have even fired one shot in the ground or in the roof to scare away the ‘intruder’.
“He would also have made sure to take precautionary measures before shooting. Securing the people in the house before shooting your gun is the first basic step.
“Secondly you make sure who you are shooting before you fire.”
In court this week, Pistorius said that he was not in the right frame of mind when he fired the shots.
“I can’t believe that,” said Bolhuis.
“Your state of mind can’t be off if you can shoot four shots in such a nice grouping,” he added.
Bolhuis also believes that if Pistorius was really scared and frightened he would have never approached the danger.
He also believes that Pistorius should have taken the stand before anyone else in court. “The judge should have got Oscar in immediately to explain his plea explanation and the bail application affidavit.
“My concern is that the law protects the criminal these days.”
Saturday Star