A new book called Oscar vs The Truth is making waves here at home, two ‘amateur forensic sleuth’ brothers claiming that Oscar may have used that infamous cricket bat as a weapon in the lead up to Reeva Steenkamp’s death.

This has not sat well with the Pistorius family, who fired back with a strongly worded statement on Friday. This from IOL:

“Despite three years of an often-vicious parallel trial against Oscar in the public domain, we as Oscar’s family have scrupulously refrained from commenting on the many outrageous and spurious allegations that have been bandied about in the media as well as legions of self-appointed armchair jurors.

“Their so-called investigation is based on what they claim to be ‘new’ evidence. There is no new evidence. Every photograph was presented and every shred of evidence was dissected in the intensive 43-day trial. It is totally absurd to suggest the State prosecutor and his high-powered team, who were so intent on proving their premeditated theory, would have overlooked any evidence that could prove that Oscar used his cricket bat for anything other than bashing open the door.”

They also engaged in a little name-calling, painting Calvin and Thomas Mollett as “two citizens with detective fantasies who have a history of latching onto high-profile cases after the fact”.

The brothers didn’t take these jibes lying down:

“We’re presenting an argument and, if somebody has a problem with it, they must come back to us with a factual argument,” said Thomas, from his home on the West Coast. “We always knew we were going to be attacked. We’ve been called worse than armchair hobbyists. It’s water off a duck’s back. I would be more concerned if they didn’t say anything – obviously we’ve touched a nerve.

“I’m not saying we’re right on everything. It’s about the principle of scientific method. If you disagree with someone, come back on a factual argument. You can’t come back with name-calling… Have they even read the book?”

Perhaps someone should buy them a copy, although you feel that would play right into the brothers’ hands.

We all have our doubts about the competency of our law enforcement’s investigative process, but to have potentially missed such a vital piece of the puzzle would take some real bungling.

[source:iol]