The flood of comments on Twitter and other social media platforms around Oscar Pistorius highlight the extreme dangers of unmediated social media.

One of the most basic precepts of law is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Allied with this is the concept of audi altarem partem – you have to listen to both sides of the story.  And those who are tweeting with such delight and thoughtless impunity should remember that they are probably guilty of publishing defamatory statements for which they can be sued. None of us knows, yet, what sparked the tragedy at the Pistorius home early this morning. All we know is that it cost the life of Reeva Steenkamp. Her family and loved ones must be devastated and all of our hearts go out to them in this moment of tragedy.