Oscar Pistorius’s elder brother faces trial for killing a woman in a traffic incident five years ago, the family said on Sunday, confirming a report that dominated South African media two days after the “Blade Runner” athlete was bailed for murder.

Carl Pistorius is charged with culpable homicide in the death of a motorcyclist in 2008; the case is unrelated to the Valentine’s Day shooting of his younger brother’s girlfriend.

However, it was not widely known of until local television e-News Channel Africa reported it on Sunday. A family statement said Carl appeared before a judge on Thursday and would be in court again in late March. His younger brother was freed on bail on Friday after a week of hearings watched by the world’s media.

Carl Pistorius declined comment as he entered the home of an uncle in Pretoria on Sunday. The house is where Oscar, 26, has been staying since being granted bail on Friday until his trial for the premeditated murder of model Reeva Steenkamp on February 14.

The family statement quoted lawyer Kenny Oldwage as saying:

“There is no doubt that Carl is innocent and the charge will be challenged in court. Carl deeply regrets the accident.

“Blood tests conducted by the police at the time proved that he had not been under the influence of alcohol, confirming that it was a tragic road accident after the deceased collided with Carl’s car.”

Contacted by Reuters, Oldwage declined further comment. The family statement said charges had at one stage been withdrawn but then reinstated.

Athlete’s trial

Carl Pistorius attracted little publicity until the arrest of his younger brother propelled the family into the glare of a global media spotlight. He and their younger sister Aimee and father Henke, appeared in court to support Oscar, who denies the charge, saying he believed he was shooting at an intruder.

The younger Pistorius brother was born lacking bones in his lower legs, leading to amputation and carbon fibre blades. As the Paralympian “Blade Runner”, who competed with able-bodied athletes at last year’s London Olympics, reaching the semifinal of the 400 meters, he became a symbol of triumph over adversity.

In his native South Africa, he has also been seen as a rare hero for both blacks and whites, transcending racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

The trial has drawn attention to South Africa’s judicial system. Defence counsel criticized police witnesses during the bail hearings and, in a development that prompted further headlines, the lead detective was replaced after it emerged he himself was facing attempted murder charges.

On Saturday, Steenkamp’s father said that if Oscar Pistorius was telling the truth about mistakenly opening fire then “maybe I can forgive him one day”. But he added that if the track star were lying “he will have to live with his conscience”.

The post Oscar Pistorius’s brother faces trial in woman’s road death appeared first on Metro.us.

A South African court granted bail on Friday to Oscar Pistorius, charged with the murder of his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, after his lawyers argued the “Blade Runner” was too famous to flee justice.

The decision by Magistrate Desmond Nair drew cheers from the Paralympics star’s family and supporters. Pistorius himself was unmoved, in marked contrast to the rest of the week-long hearing when he repeatedly broke down in tears.

Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000) and postponed the case until June 4. Pistorius would be released only when the court receives 100,000 rand in cash, he added.

Less than an hour later, a silver Land Rover believed to be carrying Pistorius left the court compound and sped off through the capital, pursued by members of the media on motorcycles.

Pistorius, 26, was also ordered to hand over firearms and his two South African passports, avoid his home and all witnesses in the case, report to a police station twice a week and to abstain from drinking alcohol.

The decision followed a week of dramatic testimony about how the athlete shot dead model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp at his luxury home near Pretoria in the early hours of February 14.

Prosecutors said Pistorius committed premeditated murder when he fired four shots into a locked toilet door, hitting his girlfriend cowering on the other side. Steenkamp, 29, suffered gunshot wounds to her head, hip and arm.

Pistorius said the killing was a tragic mistake, saying he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder – a possibility in crime-ridden South Africa – and opened fire in a blind panic.

However, in delivering his nearly two-hour bail ruling, Nair said there were a number of “improbabilities” in Pistorius’s version of events, read out to the court in an affidavit by his lawyer, Barry Roux.

“I have difficulty in appreciating why the accused would not seek to ascertain who exactly was in the toilet,” Nair said. “I also have difficulty in appreciating why the deceased would not have screamed back from the toilet.”

By local standards, the bail conditions are onerous but it remains to be seen if they appease opposition to the decision from groups campaigning against the violence against women that is endemic in South Africa.

“We are saddened because women are being killed in this country,” said Jacqui Mofokeng, a spokeswoman for the ruling African National Congress’ Women’s League, whose members stood outside the court this week with banners saying “Rot in jail”.

TO FAMOUS TO RUN

However, Nair said he was ultimately making his decision in the “interests of justice” and that the prosecution, who suffered a setback when the lead investigator withered under cross-examination by Roux, had failed to show Pistorius was either a flight risk or a threat to the public.

Roux stressed that the Olympic and Paralympic runner’s global fame made it impossible for him to evade justice by skipping bail and leaving the country.

“He can never go anywhere unnoticed,” Roux told the court.

Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated in infancy forcing him to race on carbon fiber “blades”, faces life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.

Prosecutors had portrayed him as a cold-blooded killer and said they were confident that their case, which will have to rely heavily on forensics, would stand up to scrutiny at a full trial.

“We are going to make sure that we get enough evidence to get through this case during trial time,” a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority told reporters.

In court, lead prosecutor Gerrie Nel was scornful of Pistorius’s inability to contain his emotions. “I shoot and I think my career is over and I cry. I come to court and I cry because I feel sorry for myself,” Nel said.

“DEEPLY IN LOVE”

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he was “deeply in love” with Steenkamp, and Roux said his client had no motive for the killing.

Pistorius contends he reached for a 9-mm pistol under his bed because he felt particularly vulnerable without his prosthetic limbs.

According to police, witnesses heard gunshots and screams from the athlete’s home. The community is surrounded by 3-m- (yard-) high stone walls and topped with an electric fence.

In a magazine interview a week before her death, published on Friday, Steenkamp spoke about her three-month-old relationship with Pistorius.

“I absolutely adore Oscar. I respect and admire him so much,” she told celebrity gossip magazine Heat. “I don’t want anything to come in the way of his career.”

Police pulled their lead detective off the case on Thursday after it was revealed he himself faces attempted murder charges for shooting at a minibus. He has been replaced by South Africa’s top detective.

The arrest of Pistorius last week shocked those who had watched in awe last year as he reached the semi-final of the 400 meters race in the London Olympics.

The impact has been greatest in South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who commanded respect from both black and white people, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

The post Oscar Pistorius awarded bail appeared first on Metro.us.

The lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case is himself facing attempted murder charges for firing on a minibus full of passengers, South African police said on Thursday as prosecutors argued in court to deny the athlete bail.

Hilton Botha, who took the stand against Pistorius at the Paralympic and Olympic track star’s bail hearing earlier this week, is due to appear before a judge in May over the 2011 shooting, police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila said.

“Botha and two other policemen allegedly tried to stop a minibus taxi with seven people. They fired shots,” Malila told Reuters.

It was unclear why the charges were reinstated against Botha, or how the latest twist in Pistorius’s sensational four-day bail hearing will affect the athlete’s chances of securing release from custody pending his trial.

At the time of the taxi bus shooting, Botha – a detective with 24 years on the force – was chasing a man accused of murdering a woman and disposing of her dismembered body down a drain, local media said.

The charges against him were provisionally withdrawn but reinstated on February 4 – 10 days before the shooting of 29-year-old model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp in a locked toilet at Pistorius’s Pretoria home, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

“The decision to reinstate was taken on February 4, way before the issue of Pistorius came to light or the murder of Reeva was committed,” NPA spokesman Medupe Simasiku told Reuters. “It’s completely unrelated to this trial.”

Malila said now that the court had decided to charge Botha, there would be an internal disciplinary investigation which would decide whether to keep him on the case: “At this stage there are no plans to take him off the Pistorius case.”

Pistorius, a double amputee dubbed “Blade Runner” because of his carbon fiber racing blades, faces life in prison if convicted of the premeditated murder of Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.

Sportswear giant Nike, which uses the famous “swoosh” logo, froze its contract with Pistorius on Thursday saying the athlete should be “afforded due process”.

JUSTICE ON TRIAL?

The revelation about Botha capped a troubling 24 hours for South Africa’s prosecution service.

Under cross-examination at the bail hearing on Wednesday, the lead detective was accused of contaminating the crime scene in Pistorius’s house and had to backtrack on details such as the distance of witnesses from the athlete’s home.

Grilled by lead defense counsel Barry Roux, he also had to concede that Pistorius’s version of events – that he fired into the toilet door in a blind panic thinking an intruder was lurking behind it – was plausible.

The bail hearing resumed on Thursday with prosecutors immediately admitting they had only just found out about the charges hanging over Botha.

Pressing home the defense’s advantage to argue for Pistorius’s release, Roux said: “The poor quality of evidence presented by the chief investigating officer exposed disastrous shortcomings in the state’s case.”

The 26-year-old runner denies murder and was more composed in court after repeatedly breaking down in previous hearings.

His uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said his nephew was eating again after consuming nothing for six days and had spent much of his time in police custody reading the Bible.

A full trial is likely to take many months, and even if he is acquitted, Pistorius faces a huge challenge in rebuilding his career and image in the eyes of the millions around the world who saw him as the epitome of triumph over adversity.

SOUTH AFRICA AGOG

The proceedings have gripped South Africans, who have found themselves debating the finer points of police forensics and the ins and outs of the criminal justice process.

As public opinion has swayed back and forth, schoolchildren have come to blows in playgrounds over the athlete’s innocence or guilt, and on Thursday “Hilton Botha” was a top-trending topic on Twitter in South Africa.

“We talk about the case every day. It’s all over the news. You can’t ignore it,” said Happy Ngwenya, a taxi driver waiting for rides in Johannesburg’s Sandton financial district.

“He must face his music but the thing is, here in South Africa, criminals have so many rights.”

With massive international media interest in the case against a global celebrity, many South Africans feel the apparent hiccups on the part of the state prosecution were hurting the country’s image in the eyes of the world.

“Bring someone from outside to sort out this mess,” said businessman Godfrey Baloyi. “The whole justice system needs an overhaul.”

The post Hilton Botha: Lead detective on Pistorius case facing attempted murder charges appeared first on Metro.us.

A witness heard “non-stop shouting” in the home of South African athletics star Oscar Pistorius shortly before his girlfriend was shot dead, the detective leading the murder investigation said on Wednesday.

Warrant officer Hilton Botha, a detective with 24 years on the force, also told the Pretoria magistrates court in a bail hearing that police had found two containers of testosterone and needles in Pistorius’ bedroom.

The athlete’s defense team disputed the finding.

Pistorius, a double amputee dubbed “Blade Runner” because of his carbon fiber racing blades, sobbed uncontrollably as Botha presented his testimony about the death of Reeva Steenkamp, 29.

The law graduate and model was in the toilet of the athlete’s home when she was shot dead in the early hours of February 14 – Valentine’s Day. She was hit in the head, arm and hip.

The shooting and allegations that have emerged at the hearing have stunned South Africa and millions of people around the world who regarded Pistorius, who has no lower legs, as the epitome of triumph over adversity.

“One of our witnesses heard a fight, two people talking loudly at each other … from two in the morning to three,” Botha told the court. Pistorius’ first call after the incident was to the manager of his high security complex at 3.19 am, Botha said.

In an affidavit delivered on Tuesday, Pistorius said he woke in the middle of the night and thought an intruder had climbed through his bathroom window and entered the adjoining toilet.

The 26-year-old said he grabbed a 9-mm pistol from under his bed and went into the bathroom.

Pistorius – the highest-profile athlete in the history of the Paralympics – then described how he fired into the locked toilet door in a blind panic in the mistaken belief the intruder was lurking inside.

After four hours of testimony, the hearing was adjourned until Thursday. The hearing is expected to conclude this week, after the defense and prosecution have outlined their central arguments. It may then be several months before a trial. If convicted of premeditated murder, Pistorius faces life in jail.

TRAJECTORY

Botha, who arrived on the scene an hour after the shooting, challenged Pistorius’ affidavit.

“I believe he knew she was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door,” the detective said, adding the angle at which the rounds were fired suggested they were aimed at somebody on the toilet.

Pistorius had said he moved into the bathroom on his stumps – the reason he felt so vulnerable – but Botha said the shots went in a “top to bottom” trajectory, suggesting Pistorius was wearing his artificial legs when he pulled the trigger.

“It seems to me it was fired down,” he said.

One of the spent rounds was recovered from the toilet bowl, Botha said.

He also cited a witness on the upscale gated community near Pretoria where Pistorius lived as saying he heard a shot, followed 17 minutes later by more shots. Another witness spoke of a shot, followed by screams, followed by more shots, he said.

After vigorous questioning from Pistorius’ defense team, Botha estimated the distance between the witnesses and Pistorius’ home at 300 metres.

Lead defense counsel Barry Roux also disputed Botha’s reference to “testosterone”, saying the substance was a legitimate herbal remedy called “test-composutim co-enzyme”.

Details on the makeup of testo-composutim co-enzyme were not immediately available but administering testosterone as an anabolic agent is banned at all times under World Anti-Doping Agency rules for sports people.

ANGER

The case has drawn further attention to endemic violence against women in South Africa after the gang-rape, mutilation and murder of a 17-year-old near Cape Town this month.

Members of the Women’s League of the ruling African National Congress protested outside the Pretoria court on Tuesday, waving placards saying: “No Bail for Pistorius” and “Rot in jail”.

The arrest of Pistorius stunned the millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 metres in the London Olympics.

But the impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who had transcended the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

He carried South Africa’s flag at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, and U.S. magazine Sports Illustrated named him as one of the most inspiring figures of the year.

“Many questions are being asked, but we have no answers,” Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said in a statement.

The sprinter’s endorsements and sponsorships included sportswear giant Nike, British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler and were thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he earned 5.6 million rand ($630,500) a year and owned properties worth nearly $1 million.

However, Nike and Mugler both said they had dropped Pistorius from advertising campaigns, while cosmetics firm Clarins said it was recalling its “A Man” perfume range out of “respect and compassion towards the families involved”.

The post Witness heard ‘non-stop shouting’ before Pistorius shooting appeared first on Metro.us.

“Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs and walked across his bedroom before firing four shots through a locked bathroom door, killing his cowering girlfriend in cold blood, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Reeva Steenkamp, a 30-year-old law graduate and model, died after being hit by three rounds from a 9-mm pistol, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

Pistorius, 26, wept uncontrollably in court as Nel outlined details of a shooting that has stunned South Africa and the millions around the world who saw the double amputee’s track glory as the ultimate tale of triumph over adversity.

Later, in an affidavit read out by defense lawyer Barry Roux, Pistorius said he had been “deeply in love” with Steenkamp, whom he had been dating since November, and had no intention of killing her.

Having had previous death threats, Pistorius said he slept with a 9-mm pistol under his bed in his plush Pretoria home in the heart of a well-secured gated community.

He and Steenkamp went to sleep on Wednesday night – the eve of Valentine’s Day – shortly after 10 p.m., he said.

However, in the middle of the night, he awoke in pitch darkness and thought an intruder had climbed through the window of his bathroom, Pistorius said.

He climbed out of bed without putting on his prosthetic legs and went towards the closed bathroom door, not realizing Steenkamp was behind it, he said. He then fired several shots into the door, before shouting to Steenkamp to call the police.

Realizing she was not in bed, he grabbed a cricket bat to beat down the bathroom door and found her slumped on the floor.

“I am absolutely mortified at the death of my beloved Reeva,” he said in the affidavit. As Roux read the statement, Pistorius was crying uncontrollably, to the point magistrate Desmond Nair had to halt proceedings for several minutes.

“You need to concentrate on what’s going on,” he told him.

“AN ANGEL”

Nearly 1,000 km (600 miles) away, on South Africa’s windswept southern coast, scores of mourners gathered in the city of Port Elizabeth for Steenkamp’s funeral. Amid the grief, there was little sympathy for Pistorius.

“She was an angel. She was so soft, so innocent. Such a lovely person. It’s just sad that this could happen to somebody so good,” said Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked for Steenkamp’s father.

“I’m disgusted with what he did. He must be dealt with harshly,” he added, shortly before Steenkamp’s cremation in the windswept Victoria Park Crematorium.

“Without a doubt he’s a danger to the public. He’ll be a danger to witnesses. He must stay in jail.”

The case has drawn further attention to endemic violence against women in South Africa after the gang-rape, mutilation and murder of a 17-year-old near Cape Town this month.

Members of the Women’s League of the ruling African National Congress protested outside the Pretoria central magistrates court, waving placards saying: “No Bail for Pistorius” and “Rot in jail”.

Before Pistorius’ dramatic testimony, Nel, the lead prosecutor at the hearing, painted a picture of premeditated killing – a crime that carries a life sentence in South Africa.

“If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated,” he said. “The door is closed. There is no doubt. I walk seven meters and I kill.”

“The motive is ‘I want to kill’. That’s it,” he added. “This deceased was in a 1.4 by 1.14 meter little room. She could go nowhere. It must have been horrific.”

NIKE DROPS PISTORIUS

The arrest of Pistorius stunned the millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 meters in the London Olympics, running on high-technology carbon fiber ‘blades’.

But the impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who had transcended the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

His endorsements and sponsorships, which include sportswear giant Nike, British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler, are thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he earned 5.6 million rand ($630,500) a year, and owned properties worth nearly $1 million.

Nike said on Monday it had dropped Pistorius from any future advertising campaigns. Other sponsors have said they will make no decisions until the legal process has run its course.

Pistorius has cancelled scheduled track appearances in Australia, Brazil and Britain in the coming months to focus on his attempt to clear his name.

Born without a fibula in either leg, Pistorius had his lower legs amputated as an 11-month-old baby but became the highest-profile athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games.

Dressed in a dark suit, Pistorius arrived at the court in a police car shortly before 7 a.m. (0500 GMT). Proceedings were delayed as more than 100 journalists from around the world jostled to get into the dimly lit, brick-face courtroom.

After the hour-long private ceremony in the cream-colored hill-top church in Port Elizabeth, Steenkamp’s brother Adam and uncle Mike, fighting back tears, spoke briefly to reporters.

“There’s a space missing inside all the people that she knew that can’t be filled again,” Adam Steenkamp said. “We are going to keep all the positive things that we remember and know about my sister. We will miss her.”

The post Prosecutor: Pistorius shot girlfriend through door appeared first on Metro.us.

Ever since “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius’s girlfriend was shot dead in his Pretoria home last week, South African papers have printed lurid details of the killing which, if true, pose major challenges to the Paralympic star’s defense team, experts say.

Initial reports of the shooting in the early hours of Thursday suggested Pistorius, 26, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, may have mistaken law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.

A statement released by his family dismissed the charge of murder laid on Friday in “the strongest terms”. His bail hearing resumes in a Pretoria magistrate’s court on Tuesday.

Within hours of the shooting, police confirmed that Steenkamp had been killed by more than one gunshot, that Pistorius was the only suspect, that neighbors had heard earlier disturbances, that there were no signs of a break-in and that a 9mm pistol had been recovered from the two-storey home.

Since then, police have released no more details.

The same cannot be said of the South African media, part of a global publicity machine that built up Pistorius into the ultimate sporting tale of triumph over adversity – a man who rose to the pinnacle of world athletics, racing at the Olympics despite having no lower legs.

Some of the most widely reported local media allegations are that Steenkamp was in the bathroom when she was shot, was hit by four rounds – in the head, hand, hip and chest – and that shots were fired through the bathroom door.

In addition, leading Sunday newspaper City Press said investigators had found a blood-stained cricket bat in Pistorius’ bedroom. The paper said police had not yet worked out whose blood it was, but said Steenkamp’s head was “crushed”.

The newspaper also alleged that Steenkamp, who will be buried on Tuesday, had slept in the same bed as Pistorius that night – Valentine’s Day eve – and that her iPad was on the bedroom floor along with an overnight bag.

The ENCA television channel said CCTV footage from the gated community showed Steenkamp arriving at the complex shortly after 6 p.m. on the previous evening.

Police have declined to comment on any of the reports, saying official details will only emerge in court.

However, the allegations – if true – undermine the legal argument of self-defense, as well as the suggestion that Pistorius was taken by surprise by a would-be stranger in his house in the middle of the night.

“If what the media says is in fact the truth, I cannot see that any defense based on self-defense can, by any stretch of the imagination, succeed,” said Eddie Classen, a partner at BDK Attorneys, one of South Africa’s biggest criminal defense firms.

“ROID RAGE”?

Under the white-minority rule that ended in 1994, South Africa had relatively lax curbs on the use of lethal force, not only in self-defense but also in making arrests. Put bluntly, if the only way to stop a fleeing robber was to shoot him, you could.

However, the laws were tightened up after the end of apartheid when the “right to life” became enshrined in the new constitution of Nelson Mandela’s “Rainbow Nation”, making it permissible to use lethal force only when your life is directly threatened.

Furthermore, when the immediate threat is gone – a shot intruder, say, goes down with a bullet in the leg – the self-defense argument ends.

“The law says that you have to stop the moment that you have repelled an attack, so normally one shot will suffice,” said Steven Tuson, a professor of criminal law at Johannesburg’s Wits University.

If Pistorius’s lawyers choose to avoid the self-defense avenue, another option may be to argue temporary insanity based on chemical stimulants, a defense irreverently referred to in sports-mad South Africa as “roid rage”, short for ‘steroid’.

This is why Pistorius was taken for blood tests immediately after the shooting, Tuson said, “to exclude that defense”. Classen also said the “roid rage” defense could only succeed in “extraordinary circumstances”.

One other possible avenue is for Pistorius to argue “putative self-defense” – that he thought he was being attacked even if he wasn’t. Even then, Classen said the content of the media reports, if true, curtailed his chances of success.

“The facts of the matter – and I caution again because I am only reading them from the media – suggest something totally different,” he said.

The post Oscar Pistorius murder defense team faces few options appeared first on Metro.us.

South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner”, was planning a future with the girlfriend he is accused of shooting dead this week, his uncle said on Saturday.

Pistorius, 26, one of the world’s most recognizable athletes, was charged on Friday with murdering swimsuit model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of the previous day.

He broke down during a 40-minute bail hearing at a Pretoria court but was not asked to enter a plea.

“They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time,” Anthony Pistorius said in a statement released by his nephew’s agent.

“We are in a state of total shock – firstly about the tragic death of Reeva who we had all got to know well and care for deeply over the last few months,” he said. “All of us saw at first hand how close she had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were.”

The suggestion that Pistorius’ family was close to Steenkamp runs counter to comments from Pistorius’ father, Henke, who told the New York Times he had never met his son’s partner.

“I don’t discuss my son’s relationships. I have, in fact, not met the lady,” he was quoted as saying.

Prosecutors alleged the shooting was premeditated, a charge that could put Pistorius behind bars for life if convicted.

Police have said there are no other suspects and the pair were the only people in the house at the time. Initial reports suggested he may have mistaken her for an intruder.

Anthony Pistorius reiterated the family’s belief that the track star – a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics when he ran at last year’s Olympics – had not shot Steenkamp deliberately.

“After consulting with legal representatives we deeply regret the allegation of premeditated murder,” Anthony said.

“We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the state’s own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all.”

NUMB

Pistorius is being held in a Pretoria police station before the resumption of his bail hearing on Tuesday. He is “numb” with shock and grief, the statement said.

Several South African media reports have said Steenkamp was shot through the bathroom door and was hit four times – in the head, hip, arm and hand.

Police said on Thursday witnesses had heard disturbances at the home before the shots, adding that there had been previous incidents of a “domestic nature” at the home.

The shooting has shocked South Africa, where Pistorius was revered as a hero whose achievements transcended the racial divides that linger in Nelson Mandela’s “Rainbow Nation” 19 years after the end of apartheid.

The disbelief was felt across the globe among the millions who saw in Pistorius the ultimate tale of triumph over adversity – a man who rose to the highest pinnacles of athletics despite having no lower legs.

He was born without either fibula but reached the semi-final of the 400-metres in the London 2012 Olympics, running on high-technology carbon fiber prosthetic ‘blades’. He also won two Paralympic gold medals and one silver medal.

Although the public image was of a charming and easy-going young man, a Twitter posting by Pistorius in November paints the picture of a would-be action man obsessed with security.

“Nothing like getting home to hear the washing machine on and thinking it’s an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry! waa,” read the Tweet on the morning of November 27

Police recovered a 9mm pistol from his home after the shooting. The Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper said Pistorius had a license for one firearm and applications pending for a further seven, including a semi-automatic rifle.

Police declined to comment on the Beeld report.

“We’re releasing nothing,” spokeswoman Katelgo Mogale said. “Details of the incident will come out in court.”

South African state broadcaster SABC will on Saturday evening air the first episode of a tropical island reality show featuring Steenkamp that was filmed last year in the Caribbean.

SABC said her family had given their blessing to the show’s airing, which will be preceded by a short tribute.

The post Uncle Says Pistorius, Slain Girlfriend Had Planned Future appeared first on Metro.us.

South African ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, broke down in tears on Friday after he was charged in court with shooting dead his girlfriend in his Pretoria home.

The 26-year-old Olympic and Paralympic superstar stood with head bowed in front of magistrate Desmond Nair to hear the charge that he had murdered model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius then started sobbing, covering his face with his hands. “Take it easy,” Nair told him. “Come take a seat.”

The case has stunned a nation that revered ‘the fastest man on no legs’ as a hero who managed to compete at the highest levels of sport despite being born without a fibula in either leg.

Prosecutors told the Pretoria court the shooting of 30-year-old Steenkamp in the early hours of Thursday was pre-meditated.

Pistorius faces life in prison if found guilty.

He did not enter a plea but a statement issued by his family and London-based agent said the charge was disputed “in the strongest possible terms”.

“He (Pistorius) has made it very clear that he would like to send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva,” the statement said, in the first message attributed to him since his arrest.

Steenkamp was found shot dead in Pistorius’s plush home in the middle of a heavily guarded gated complex in the northern outskirts of the capital, police said.

The Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper said she was hit four times, in the head, chest, pelvis and hand.

“The security guards found Pistorius by Steenkamp’s body in the bathroom,” the paper said on its website, citing a neighbor. “The door had bullet holes right through it.”

Defense lawyer Kenny Oldwage said his client had an “extremely traumatized state of mind”. He did not request bail before proceedings were adjourned until February 19.

GOLDEN BOY LOSES SHINE

Early reports of the shooting suggested Pistorius may have mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder, but police said neighbors had heard noises before the shots and there had been previous “domestic” incidents at the house.

Pistorius said nothing during the 40-minute hearing.

His father, Henke, and brother, Carl, sat directly behind him in the packed court-room, occasionally leaning forward to give him a pat on the shoulder.

His mother died in 2002 when he was 15 years old – a tragedy that he said spurred him on in his quest to compete as an able-bodied athlete.

Along with Lance Armstrong’s recovery from testicular cancer to win the Tour de France – an achievement now brought low by his admission of doping – Pistorius’ tale of triumph over adversity was one of the most powerful in the history of sport.

South African newspapers plastered Steenkamp’s killing across their front pages, reflecting shock and dismay at the fall of a man who commanded rare respect on all sides of the racial divides that persist in Nelson Mandela’s “Rainbow Nation” 19 years after the end of apartheid.

“Golden Boy Loses Shine” ran a front page headline in the Sowetan, beside a picture of Pistorius, head bowed in a grey hooded tracksuit being led away from a police station.

Callers to morning radio shows expressed grief at the death of Steenkamp, who had been due to give a talk at a Johannesburg school this week about violence against women.

There was also widespread disbelief at the fate of a sportsman regarded as a genuinely “good guy”.

“How is it possible for one so high to fall so low so quickly?” Talk Radio 702 host John Robbie said.

ADVERTS PULLED

South Africa’s M-Net cable TV channel immediately pulled adverts featuring Pistorius off air but most of his sponsors, including sports apparel group Nike, said they would not make any decisions until the police investigation was completed.

Pistorius’ endorsements and sponsorships, which also include British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler, are thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

He reached the pinnacle of his fame in London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in the Olympics, reaching the 400-metres semi-finals.

In last year’s Paralympics he suffered his first loss over 200 meters in nine years. After the race he questioned the legitimacy of Brazilian winner Alan Oliveira’s prosthetic blades, but was quick to express regret for the comments.

Near the home, people who knew Pistorius paid tribute to a much-loved local hero.

“Some of us were in tears,” said Precious, who works at a petrol station where Pistorius used to fill up his McLaren supercar, signing autographs and picking up the tab for people in the convenience store.

“He was just so kind to everyone,” said Precious, who declined to give her family name.

The post ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius sobs in court after murder charge appeared first on Metro.us.

Olympic and Paralympic hero Oscar Pistorius was arrested and charged with the murder of his girlfriend model Reeva Steenkamp on Thursday. The ‘Blade Runner’ would join a surprisingly long list of sporting killers, if he is convicted.

Jovan Belcher (American Football)

In December 2012, the 22-year old linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs shot his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins nine times, before turning the gun on himself in front of team-mates at the Chiefs’ stadium.

Carlos Monzon (Boxing)

The Argentine was undisputed World Middleweight Champion for seven years but is better remembered for the violence in his personal life. Monzon threw his wife Alicia Muniz off a balcony and was convicted for her murder, later dying in prison.

Hiroshi Ogawa (Baseball)

A player and assistant coach for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan’s Pacific League, Ogawa killed a 67-year-old woman to steal $20,000. Kazuko Nishiuchi was thrown in the pitcher’s car boot and drowned in a lake.

Leslie Hylton (Cricket)

The West Indian fast bowler is the only Test cricketer to have been executed. Hylton was hanged in 1955 for shooting his wife dead after discovering that she was having an affair.

Robert Rozier (American football)

Played for the St. Louis Cardinals before joining a black supremacist cult. In 1986, he admitted to killing seven white people on cult orders. Rozier was released in 1996 but then re-arrested for financial crimes.

And finally…

OJ Simpson (American football)

The famous running back and sometime actor was the most high profile sportsmen to be accused of murder, of his wife and her friend, but was controversially acquitted. A civil court later awarded against him for their wrongful deaths, and SImpson is currently serving a jail sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping.

The post PHOTOS: ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius would join long list of sportsmen killers if convicted of murder appeared first on Metro.us.

South African “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged on Thursday with shooting dead his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria.

Police said they had opened a murder case after a 30-year-old woman was found dead at the track star’s house after an incident in the upmarket Silverlakes gated complex on the outskirts of the capital.

“At this stage he is on his way to a district surgeon for medical examination,” police brigadier Denise Beukes told reporters outside the heavily guarded residential complex.

Pistorius and his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, had been the only people in the house at the time of the shooting, Beukes, said, and witnesses had been interviewed about the incident, which happened in the early hours of the morning.

“We are talking about neighbors and people that heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place,” she said. Earlier, police said a 9mm pistol had been found at the scene.

“When a person has been accused of a crime like murder they look at things like testing under the figure nails, taking a blood alcohol sample and all kinds of other test that are done. They are standard medical tests,” Beukes said.

Pistorius is due to appear in a Pretoria court after 1200 GMT.

Before the murder charge was announced, Johannesburg’s Talk Radio 702 said the 26-year-old may have mistaken Steenkamp for a burglar.

South Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, and many home owners have weapons to defend themselves against intruders, although Pistorius’ complex is surrounded by a three meter high wall and electric fence.

In 2004, Springbok rugby player Rudi Visagie shot dead his 19-year-old daughter after he mistakenly thought she was a robber trying to steal his car in the middle of the night.

VALENTINE’S DAY

Steenkamp, a model and regular on the South African party circuit, was reported to have been dating Pistorius for a year, and there had been little to suggest their relationship was in trouble.

In the social pages of last weekend’s Sunday Independent she described him as having “impeccable” taste.

“His gifts are always thoughtful,” she was quoted as saying.

Some of her last Twitter postings indicated she was looking forward to celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday with him.

“What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???” she posted.

However, Beukes said the police were aware of previous incidents at the house of a “domestic nature”, and recent media interviews with Pistorius revealed he kept an assortment of weapons in his home.

“Cricket and baseball bats lay behind the door, a pistol by his bed and a machine gun by a window,” Britain’s Daily Mail wrote in a profile published last year.

He was arrested in 2009 for assault after slamming a door on a woman and spent a night in police custody. Family and friends said it was just an accident and the charges were later dropped.

Steenkamp’s colleagues were distraught.

“We are all devastated. Her family is in shock,” Steenkamp’s agent, Sarita Tomlinson, told Reuters, in tears. “They did have a good relationship. Nobody actually knows what happened.”

TRACK STAR

Pistorius, who races wearing carbon fiber prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs, was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics and reached the 400 meter semi-finals in London 2012.

Respected worldwide for triumphing over his disabilities to compete on a level playing field with able-bodied athletes, his sponsorship deals are thought to be worth $2 million a year.

In last year’s Paralympics he suffered his first loss over 200 meters in nine years. After the race he questioned the legitimacy of Brazilian winner Alan Oliveira’s prosthetic blades, though he was quick to express his regret for the comments.

Pistorius is sponsored by British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley, sports apparel maker Nike and French designer Thierry Mugler.

“We are shocked by this terrible, tragic news. We await the outcome of the South African police investigation,” a BT spokeswoman said before Pistorius was charged.

A Nike spokesman in London said before hearing of the murder charge that the company was “saddened by the news, but we have no further comment to make at this stage”.

Pistorius also has a sponsorship deal with Icelandic prosthetics manufacturer Ossur.

“I can only say that our thoughts and prayers are with Oscar and the families involved in the tragedy,” Ossur CEO Jon Sigurdsson told Reuters. “It is completely premature to discuss or speculate on our business relationship with him.”

Neighbors expressed shock at the arrest of a “good guy”.

“It is difficult to imagine an intruder entering this community, but we live in a country where intruders can get in wherever they want to,” said one Silverlakes resident, who did not want to be named.

“Oscar is a good guy, an upstanding neighbor, and if he is innocent I feel for this guy deeply,” he said.

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