The recent case involving double amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius who was celebrated beyond the tracks and looked up to for motivation may have led some people to figure that celebrities have it much easier in the corridors of justice.

Pistorious was found not guilty for the murder of his girlfriend and instead charged for manslaughter which, according to many people, was as good as being acquitted.

Other famous personalities who have stood in Pistorious’ shoes include South African President Jacob Zuma on rape charges, musician R. Kelly on child molestation and Justin Bieber for drink-driving, among others.

Some claim that when top celebrities are in the dock, it is never the individuals on trial but rather their titles and accolades.

But a closer scrutiny of these cases would reveal that though they may want to drag their names and titles to court, the path of justice is not discriminatory, it does not look away when the suspect is a big shot.

They are tried just like anyone else, given a chance to defend themselves like an ordinary citizen would; the difference is the spotlight they stand under. There is usually a lot of curiosity in the case they are involved in. The public hype around their cases could easily lead to different interpretation of the judge’s verdict. 

Whichever way the verdict goes, there is always noise around it. "They did it to end his career,” some will say, while others will say that had he not been a celebrity, he would have served time.It is only that cases involving celebrities are followed closely by the whole world; people take sides sharply and are quick to cry foul when the verdict is made.

Not to make it a lesser evil or a smaller case, numerous people around the world have killed their girlfriends and fiancés in more brutal ways than Pistorius killed his girlfriend. Some hack them; others suffocate them or, even worse, lock them up in their basements and starve them to death. 

But we get to here very few of these cases because most of them are ordinary people.

Celebrities are mere mortals, they are just like anyone else and they pay taxes like we all do.

Okay, some do not and go to jail for it. The law doesn’t look at your professional bio, you do not use your stage name in the summon papers; you use the one that your parents gave to you.