What does it say about us when the Paralympian's trial
for murder attracts more media attention than Mandela's
funeral?
As a crime writer, I've thought a lot about murder. Not
just the technical or literary aspects, but also the
seemingly insatiable public appetite for death. Why are
we all so interested? Nowhere is this obsession more
evident than in the trial of former Olympic athlete Oscar
Pistorius for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva
Steenkamp.
Proceedings in the Pretoria courtroom over the past year
have garnered more international attention than any
other South African event in the social media age –
even the funeral of our former president, Nelson
Mandela.
Every day the foreign media have packed the court to
churn out hundreds of stories to a hungry audience
already watching the trial on television and following
every new theory on twitter.
Part of this fascination can perhaps be explained by
Pistorius's particular history and background: he's an
international superstar, a role model and a global symbol
of triumph over tragedy. But I believe it is wider than
this.
I've always had my theories, some of which I've
discussed with fellow crime authors. The simplified
consensus seems to be that our fascination stems from
the fact that (a) death is our ultimate fear and (b) we are
driven by an inner need for justice in an unjust world.
But after witnessing the Pistorius spectacle I wanted to
find out more. I contacted Professor Dap Louw, one of
the world's most experienced and respected forensic
psychologists. Over more than three decades, he has
interviewed scores of South African killers, testified in
countless trials and written and taught on the subject
extensively.
"The fixation with murder is real," Louw says. "There's
been a plethora of students clamouring to study in the
field. And I have to confess to the same obsession. After
a lifetime in psychology, murder is the only field that
continues to intrigue me. And the reason, I think, is
human intellect. We are a physically puny species,
compared with nature's really dangerous predators. But
evolution has developed our cognition into a lethal
weapon, and honed our drive and skills to solve puzzles
and problems.
"Furthermore, we are social animals. We invest huge
amounts of time, money and energy to fit in, and protect
the stability of our society. Murder is the most violent
and potent of society's destabilisers. It presents a
dangerous puzzle, and we study it constantly in an effort
to find a solution."
Evolution has turned the human brain into a pattern-
finding machine, says Louw. Our study of murder
becomes a quest to find environmental or behavioural
patterns, so that we can predict who will kill, and who
will not. If we can identify a trend then somehow it is
less random, and perhaps we will be personally less at
risk? The Pistorius trial is a case in point. Observers
have tried to suggest so-called gun culture was partly
responsible for the death of Steenkamp. But if you study
the statistics, South Africa does not really have such a
thing.
What about a "Pistorius gun culture"? After all, in the
mid-1970s Pistorius's father allegedly shot himself in
the testicles while in the company of his then girlfriend,
the former Miss Universe Anneline Kriel. Apparently
Henke Pistorius was cleaning his pistol in front of Kriel
when the accident happened. (He was not seriously
injured.) It has also been reported that the Pistorius
family owned 55 firearms. Surely, growing up in this
environment must have influenced the Paralympian on
that fatal night?
"Perhaps," says Louw. "But I've been talking to serial
killers and murderers for 35 years and so many have one
thing in common: they say: 'I never thought I would be
capable of such an act'. The more I study them, the more
I am convinced that there is no reliable way to profile
murderers. I think some human beings have a genetic
predisposition to kill, and others do not. There is an X
factor, a great unknown.
But I'm sure it is there, waiting to be discovered.
"Sure, a gun culture, or a traumatised youth, can
contribute to pulling the X factor trigger. But I've seen it
umpteen times – two kids can come from the same
parents, grow up in the same conditions, but only one
will have the capacity to kill."
Whether or not he's right, perhaps herein lies a clue to
our fascination with murder trials and crime novels. As
well as looking for patterns and wondering whether there
is anything we can do to protect ourselves, are we
wondering whether, in the right (wrong?) circumstances,
we have it within us to kill ourselves?
Deon Meyer is a South African crime thriller writer whose
books include Dead at Daybreak and Heart of the Hunter.
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