The Valentine's Day Massacre

Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

When I was 14 years old and I lived in England

generated strong feelings in me.

Would the girl to whom I had sent an anonymous love letter guess my identity?

Would I be the recipient of one of these messages, or one of the turnips that wouldn't?

Today I associate Valentine's Day with

.

On Tuesday it will be ten years since

killed his beloved in the South African capital of Pretoria, firing four bullets through a bathroom door where the beautiful model Reeva Steenkamp was.

Pistorius is still in jail, but I confess that he would like to be released this year, as South African law allows.

I wrote a book about Pistorius and I feel a sympathy for him that many - and many - would consider indecent.

The second sentence that awaits him seems unfair to me, that he be slaughtered for the rest of his days, identifying him solely and exclusively as a murderer.

Pistorius and Reeva, in a 2013 photo (AFP)

Social networks will do their thing to consolidate the idea, of course, as we see in countless less serious cases with people who

.

In a moment of carelessness, or perhaps drunkenness, you said something that was interpreted as racist or sexist or fascist and that's it: that's the whole of you;

there is no turning back, there is no forgiveness.

There should be.

has always attracted me

.

I aspire, although he almost never complies, to understand and not judge.

The Pistorius case puts the principle to the test fiercely.

I know that if he were the father of Reeva Steenkamp it would be almost impossible not to succumb to the urge for revenge-"let him rot in jail"-but I intend here to appeal to the generosity of the general public.

First,

.

He belongs more to the world of Homeric legend than to that of

or

.

Pistorius had his legs amputated just below the knees when he was 10 months old, and in 2012, at age 25, he reached the semifinals of the 400m at the Olympics against full-legged athletes.

As an example of courage and persistence no one surpasses him.

Second, when the news broke that he had killed his girlfriend, hundreds of millions of people refused to believe Pistorius's version that it was "

and, without the slightest idea of ​​the facts, convinced themselves that there had been. murdered Reeva in a premeditated way.

Feminist groups decided that Pistorius was the

, without stopping to see that before that moment of madness on February 14, 2013, an incident in which he had assaulted a woman had never been heard of.

It was even said that he was racist, when the truth is that

and his fellow black Paralympians adored him.

Here is another phenomenon of our times.

Whether in the political or social field, huge numbers of people adopt fanatical positions without knowing what they are talking about.

Third, the black judge who led the Pistorius trial, with a reputation for being ruthless with men who assault women, believed the version of the white athlete.

She found him

, which, of course, did not change the perception of most of those who needed to be convinced that Pistorius was the epitome of the violent macho.

Fourth, an appeals court led by a white judge

.

But not the voluntary manslaughter of Reeva Steenkamp.

That was never remotely verified.

A possible motive was never established, rather the opposite as they were preparing to move to Johannesburg together.

South African Óscar Pistorius was the first amputee athlete to participate in the Olympic Games.

He competed in one of the qualifying rounds of the London 2012 400 meter event. (EFE)

Fifth, I, who was present in court during the half year that the initial trial lasted, understand the judge's verdict.

I understand this not only because of the weakness of the prosecutor's evidence, which sought to argue that Reeva's death had been intentional, but also because of the emotion aroused by the spectacle of a clearly sorrowful Pistorius.

She cried from start to finish, many times adding howls to her tears of despair

.

Because I know South Africa well, I know, as did the judge, that in such a violent country the paranoia displayed by Pistorius, his fear that there was an armed intruder in his home, was inordinate but not incomprehensible considering the fact that at that time moment he was wobbling on the knuckles of his amputated legs.

That being said, I understand the appellate court because logic says that by thinking there was a human being in the bathroom, he should have known he was shooting to kill.

What nobody knows, except Pistorius, is if he wanted to kill his girlfriend or not.

I have been asked my opinion a thousand times.

Until now, taking refuge in the happy journalistic objectivity, I had said that I did not know.

But what I feel in my bones after having studied the case and having talked to Pistorius during the trial more than any other journalist, is that he

.

That what this sad story is about is a double tragedy, for the victim and for the one who killed her.

The pain that Pistorius will live with for the rest of his days will be much worse, I think, than any prison sentence.

He did not coldly plan the death of his girlfriend, he is not a serial killer, he is not a Putin who kills mercilessly year after year after year.

He had a moment of madness, caused by a sudden confluence of random circumstances.

Nothing else.

.

Like many who have been lynched by public opinion, he deserves a degree of sympathy.