Olympian Oscar Pistorius could face charge of 'premeditated murder'
Oscar Pistorius "sobbed uncontrollably" at a South African court hearing on Friday morning as prosecutors made clear their intention to claim the track superstar killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in a premeditated murder.
According to numerous news outlets, Pistorius, who could spend the rest of his life in prison, wept and shook visibly for much of his appearance in a Pretoria magistrates court, where chief magistrate Desmond Nair postponed until Tuesday the process that will decide what charges the 26-year-old will face. That means Pistorius will spend the weekend behind bars, although he will be kept – at his own request – at a Brooklyn police station in Pretoria rather than a local prison as would be the norm in murder cases.
On Tuesday, arguments will be heard as to the severity of the murder charge he will face, as well as submissions regarding his application for bail.
The Associated Press reported that Pistorius' family and management released a statement Friday from London that said, "The alleged murder is disputed in the strongest terms." The statement went on to say that Pistorius "would like to send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva."
Numerous eyewitnesses at the court told how Pistorius was unable to control his emotions even before the proceedings began and he had to be consoled by his father Henke and brother Carl while deliberations took place.
"He broke down several times," South African journalist Barry Bateman said in a report to a Cape Town radio station. "He couldn't control his emotions. Most of the time had his head down. You could see him clench his jaw. He would collapse into his hands sobbing and it was audible, he was gasping. When he fell down his father would lean forward and put his hand on his back."
The shooting of Steenkamp in the early hours of Thursday morning has caused a media frenzy in South Africa, with Friday morning's Beeld newspaper claiming that the aspiring television personality and model had been shot through the bathroom door of Pistorius' luxury home in the Silver Lakes gated complex, and that police and security had been called to the property earlier in the evening following a disturbance.
I guess they weren't buying the intruder story...
i'm looking to hearing a straight story about what happened. i see the "shot through the bathroom door" story in some articles, while other articles are saying that's what a neighbor that was interviewed said - not anyone official. i've also heard contradictory stories about the previous domestic calls to the house. on cnn this morning they were saying the only one they know about was an overzealous fan trying to follow him into his house and he shut the door in her face before she could come in and a piece of the door fell off and struck her. i think he's guilty, but i'm interested in finding out what they have that proves it was pre-meditated.
Edited at 2013-02-16 03:46 am (UTC)
Main one being Mary Carillo. I understand she was more close to Oscar than a lot of other reporters and that she stayed at his house......But don't sit on TV whining about how "it just doesn't seem like something that a person with such a great spirit would do". I was pissed at her because she barely acknowledged his dead girlfriend.
I just wish I could find ONE article that memorializes Reeva's life, to go with the hundreds about Pistorius.
But I was fuming when he ended it up with "a man with so much to loose wouldn't kill someone". Like, is he even for real? He was basically saying Oscar is a great man that made the mistake of taking steroids that drove him crazy and made him kill his gf, but he's still a stand up guy!! Ugh, I', still mad about it