February 14, 2013: A great feel-good story comes to a terrible end -- and on Valentine's Day, no less.
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius was born on November 22, 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old, as a result of a congenital defect: He was born missing the outside of both feet and both fibulae.
Wearing specialized prostheses that earned him the nickname "The Blade Runner," he ran in both nondisabled sprint events and in sprint events for below-knee amputees. He did more to elevate the Olympic Games-accompanying Paralympic Games than any other athlete, winning Gold Medals in sprinting events in 2004 in Athens, in 2008 in Beijing, and in 2012 in London. He was cited as an inspiration to millions by organizations and publications all over the world.
In November 2012, he began dating Reeva Steenkamp. A model and a law student, she had also overcome physical difficulty, breaking her back in a horse-riding accident, and had to learn to walk again. She had appeared in several TV commercials, and was a correspondent for the European show FashionTV. She wasn't as famous as he was, but, as so often happens with such couples, each one's famed fed the other's.
On February 14, 2013, Pistorius fired 4 shots through the door of a locked bathroom cubicle in his Pretoria home, 3 of which struck Steenkamp, who was on the other side. Immediately following this, Pistorius proceeded to break down the bathroom door with a cricket bat to reach Steenkamp. He attempted to render emergency medical assistance, and called for help. One of the first responders to the scene was a neighbor, Dr. Johan Stipp, who determined that she had been mortally wounded. She was 29 years old.
Pistorius was arrested, and charged with murder. He admitted that he shot her, but said he believed he was shooting an intruder. On September 12, 2014, he was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of culpable homicide in the case. On October 21, 2014, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but was released after only 10 months.
On December 3, 2015, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the culpable homicide verdict, and found Pistorius guilty of murder. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison for murder, despite South Africa carrying a minimum sentence of 15 years for this offense. On November 24, 2017, the Court of Appeal extended his prison term to 13 years and 5 months, with the possibility of parole starting in 2023.
UPDATE: He was paroled on January 5, 2024.
*
February 14, 2013 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA. The Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 110-100 at the Ford Center (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City. Kevin Durant scored 40 points in defeat for the Thunder. And the Los Angeles Clippers beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, 125-101 at their joint home, the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Aerna) in Los Angeles.
There were 6 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 4-3 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden.
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-3 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Florida Panthers, 1-0 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. Rene Bourque scored the winning goal, and the only goal, with 2:50 left in overtime.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-0 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* And the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-3 in a shootout at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
No comments:
Post a Comment