Pistorius in court on murder charge

Feb 15 2013

Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius is expected appear in court charged with the murder of his girlfriend after she was shot dead at his home.

Gold-medal winner Pistorius, known as Blade Runner for his prosthetic racing legs, was taken into custody on Thursday over the killing of Reeva Steenkamp, 30. She was shot in the head and upper body.

Initial reports suggested the model may have been mistaken for a burglar, but Brigadier Denise Beukes later said police were "very surprised" by that suggestion, adding: "These allegations did not come from us."

There had been previous incidents of a "domestic nature" at the property on the exclusive, gated Silver Lakes Golf Estate in the South African capital Pretoria, she added. A 9mm pistol was recovered and, according to unconfirmed reports, four shots were fired.

Police spokeswoman Lt Col Katlego Mogale told the South African Press Association: "Paramedics declared the woman dead on the scene and police proceeded with their investigation. The woman sustained wounds to her head and the upper body." Police said an application for bail by Pistorius's lawyer Kenny Oldwage would be opposed when he appears in court.

Dressed in a grey hooded jacket, tracksuit trousers and trainers, Pistorius, 26, walked with head bowed from the Boschkop police station on Thursday before being taken to Pretoria's Mamelodi Day Hospital in a police convoy. Brig Beukes said the medical examination was "standard procedure".

Pistorius's spokesman, from the Fast Track agency in London, said he was "assisting the police with their investigations" but no further comment could be made until matters became clearer.

Initial rumours suggested the shooting may have been a Valentine's Day surprise gone wrong. The couple had only been going out since November. Miss Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, tweeted the day before Valentine's Day: "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay."

Pistorius appeared to have serious concerns about his safety and was said to sleep with a revolver by his side. A journalist from the Daily Mail interviewed him last summer and noted: "This being South Africa, one baseball bat and one cricket bat lie behind Pistorius's bedroom door. A revolver is at his bedside. A machine gun by his window."

The athlete made history at the London 2012 Olympics becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete in the able-bodied Games, running in the 400m and 4x400m relay. The star was born without fibulas and underwent below-the-knee amputations at just 11 months old. He had to win a legal battle over his blades with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 2008 for the right to compete in able-bodied competition.