PARALYMPIC idol Oscar Pistorius told a court in his own words today how he shot dead his model girlfriend.
In an emotional statement, he claimed he fired shots at the bathroom door, thinking an intruder had climbed through the window.
He said he then realised that Reeva Steenkamp was not in his bed, which filled him “with horror and fear”.
Earlier in the hearing, prosecutors accused Pistorius of murdering his girlfriend following a heated row.
The athlete grabbed a gun, attached his prosthetic legs and walked seven metres before shooting dead his girlfriend as she cowered in a bathroom, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.
Pistorius shot Reeva, 29, four times inside his gated Pretoria mansion on Valentine's Day, the court heard.
Pistorius, known as the Blade Runner, sobbed uncontrollably in the South African court during his second appearance over the alleged murder of his girlfriend.
In his statement read out by his lawyer, Pistorius said Reeva had come over earlier that evening and done some yoga before he went to bed.
Waking in the summer heat in the early hours of the morning, he went out to the balcony to get a fan.
The double amputee had not attached his prosthetic limbs and was walking on his stumps. Suddenly he "heard a noise in the bathroom".
Pistorius knew the bathroom window was open and that ladders were accessible nearby.
His statement read: "I screamed words to the effect of for him/her to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police.
"I thought Reeva was in the bed. I felt extremely vulnerable but I knew I had to protect Reeva and myself."
He said he then pumped bullets into the locked bathroom but returned to the bedroom and realised Reeva was not in bed.
"That's when it dawned on me it must have been Reeva in the toilet," he added.
Pistorius described how he put on his legs, tried to kick down the door then bashed it in with a cricket bat to find his 29-year-old girlfriend shot inside.
She was killed after being hit in the head by bullets fired through the bathroom door. Pistorius, 26, said he ran downstairs with her but “she died in my arms.”
He denies murder, saying the couple were “deeply in love” and that he had no intention to kill her.
The gold-medal winner added that he was “absolutely mortified at death of my beloved Reeva”.
Pistorius also revealed he kept the 9mm pistol under his bed because he had received death threats.
He added: “I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder, as I did not plan to murder my girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.”
He swore the affidavit under oath during a meeting with his legal team at a Pretoria police station ahead of today’s two-day bail application.
Mr Nel, prosecuting, said the victim arrived at the house between 5pm and 6pm the night before she was killed at 3am.
Reeva locked herself inside the cramped bathroom following a argument and was unarmed, the prosecutor added.
“She couldn’t go anywhere. You can run nowhere,” he said. “It must have been horrific.”
Nr Nel also said the athlete had not provided investigators with his own version of what happened.
Before adjourning the bail hearing till 7am GMT tomorrow, Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled that the case was a schedule six offence – meaning premeditated murder – rather than the less serious schedule five.
The 26-year-old Olympic champion sobbed as his lawyer insisted that Reeva’s shooting was an accident.
Barry Roux, defending, said Reeva was not murdered and there were a number of cases where men have shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.
He also suggested that Pistorius broke the bathroom door down to help Ms Steenkamp after the shooting.
It follows last Thursday when police formally charged Pistorius with premeditated murder.
Prosecutors told the bail hearing that Pistorius had put on his prosthetic legs and walked seven metres (23ft) to the bathroom before firing his gun.
After the shooting he told his sister that he thought Ms Steenkamp, 29, was an intruder, the court heard.
Mr Nel said the killing was premeditated because the defendant planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder.
He added: “It was all part of the pre-planning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?”
But Mr Roux said: “We submit it is not even murder. There is no concession this is a murder.”
Pistorius, wearing a grey suit and tie, replied “Yes, sir” after the chief magistrate asked if he was well.
The court appearance came as Reeva’s heartbroken family gathered for her private funeral after her body was returned to her home town of Port Elizabeth.
Her mother, June, has described her “horrendous” torment at her daughter’s death.
Mrs Steenkamp told South African newspaper The Times: “She loved like no-one else could love.
“She had so much of herself to give and now all of it is gone. Just like that, she is gone. In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here.
“All we have is this horrendous death to deal with... to get to grips with.
"All we want are answers... answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this.”
South African newspaper City Press reported that a cricket bat covered in blood had been recovered from Pistorius’s property.
Mourning ... pallbearers carry the coffin holding Reeva's body into the crematorium this morning
His arrest triggered shock across the globe and prompted reports that he might have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder in what could have been a Valentine’s Day surprise gone wrong.
But police swiftly distanced themselves from that suggestion and said there had been previous incidents of a “domestic nature” at Pistorius’s house.
His family has vowed to fight the murder charge in the “strongest terms”.
Pistorius’s best friend Justin Divaris claimed the sports star called him minutes after the shooting telling him “there has been a terrible accident”, according to reports.
Pistorius’s father said he had “zero doubt” that Ms Steenkamp’s death was a tragic accident and that his son may have acted “on instinct”.
Ms Steenkamp’s father, Barry, paid tribute to her in a newspaper interview, saying the family was struggling to come to terms with her death.
He said: “There is no hatred in our hearts. He must be going through things that we don’t know about.
“We ask the Lord every day to help us find a reason why this should happen to Reeva. She was the most beautiful, kind girl in the world.”
Pistorius’s management company has issued a statement announcing it had “no option” but to cancel all future races in which the double amputee was contracted to compete.
Pistorius, who won two gold medals and a silver at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, was contracted to compete in the Manchester City Games on May 25, following Qantas Tour races in Australia on March 9 and 16 and meetings in Rio de Janeiro (March 31) and Iowa (April 26).
Meanwhile, French fashion house Thierry Mugler has become the latest high-profile sponsor to distance itself from Oscar Pistorius as the Paralympian fights murder charges.
The company will withdraw all products featuring Pistorius, including its ’A*men Pure Shot’ fragrance, all point-of-sale advertising featuring Pistorius, and all references to the athlete on its website.
(Culled from http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4802187/Oscar-Pistorius-breaks-down-at-bail-hearing.html)
PARALYMPIC idol Oscar Pistorius told a court in his own words today how he shot dead his model girlfriend.
In an emotional statement, he claimed he fired shots at the bathroom door, thinking an intruder had climbed through the window.
He said he then realised that Reeva Steenkamp was not in his bed, which filled him “with horror and fear”.
Earlier in the hearing, prosecutors accused Pistorius of murdering his girlfriend following a heated row.
The athlete grabbed a gun, attached his prosthetic legs and walked seven metres before shooting dead his girlfriend as she cowered in a bathroom, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.
Pistorius shot Reeva, 29, four times inside his gated Pretoria mansion on Valentine's Day, the court heard.
Pistorius, known as the Blade Runner, sobbed uncontrollably in the South African court during his second appearance over the alleged murder of his girlfriend.
In his statement read out by his lawyer, Pistorius said Reeva had come over earlier that evening and done some yoga before he went to bed.
Waking in the summer heat in the early hours of the morning, he went out to the balcony to get a fan.
The double amputee had not attached his prosthetic limbs and was walking on his stumps. Suddenly he "heard a noise in the bathroom".
Pistorius knew the bathroom window was open and that ladders were accessible nearby.
His statement read: "I screamed words to the effect of for him/her to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police.
"I thought Reeva was in the bed. I felt extremely vulnerable but I knew I had to protect Reeva and myself."
He said he then pumped bullets into the locked bathroom but returned to the bedroom and realised Reeva was not in bed.
"That's when it dawned on me it must have been Reeva in the toilet," he added.
Pistorius described how he put on his legs, tried to kick down the door then bashed it in with a cricket bat to find his 29-year-old girlfriend shot inside.
She was killed after being hit in the head by bullets fired through the bathroom door. Pistorius, 26, said he ran downstairs with her but “she died in my arms.”
He denies murder, saying the couple were “deeply in love” and that he had no intention to kill her.
The gold-medal winner added that he was “absolutely mortified at death of my beloved Reeva”.
Pistorius also revealed he kept the 9mm pistol under his bed because he had received death threats.
He added: “I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder, as I did not plan to murder my girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.”
He swore the affidavit under oath during a meeting with his legal team at a Pretoria police station ahead of today’s two-day bail application.
Mr Nel, prosecuting, said the victim arrived at the house between 5pm and 6pm the night before she was killed at 3am.
Reeva locked herself inside the cramped bathroom following a argument and was unarmed, the prosecutor added.
“She couldn’t go anywhere. You can run nowhere,” he said. “It must have been horrific.”
Nr Nel also said the athlete had not provided investigators with his own version of what happened.
Before adjourning the bail hearing till 7am GMT tomorrow, Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled that the case was a schedule six offence – meaning premeditated murder – rather than the less serious schedule five.
The 26-year-old Olympic champion sobbed as his lawyer insisted that Reeva’s shooting was an accident.
Barry Roux, defending, said Reeva was not murdered and there were a number of cases where men have shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.
He also suggested that Pistorius broke the bathroom door down to help Ms Steenkamp after the shooting.
It follows last Thursday when police formally charged Pistorius with premeditated murder.
Prosecutors told the bail hearing that Pistorius had put on his prosthetic legs and walked seven metres (23ft) to the bathroom before firing his gun.
After the shooting he told his sister that he thought Ms Steenkamp, 29, was an intruder, the court heard.
Mr Nel said the killing was premeditated because the defendant planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder.
He added: “It was all part of the pre-planning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?”
But Mr Roux said: “We submit it is not even murder. There is no concession this is a murder.”
Pistorius, wearing a grey suit and tie, replied “Yes, sir” after the chief magistrate asked if he was well.
The court appearance came as Reeva’s heartbroken family gathered for her private funeral after her body was returned to her home town of Port Elizabeth.
Her mother, June, has described her “horrendous” torment at her daughter’s death.
Mrs Steenkamp told South African newspaper The Times: “She loved like no-one else could love.
“She had so much of herself to give and now all of it is gone. Just like that, she is gone. In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here.
“All we have is this horrendous death to deal with... to get to grips with.
"All we want are answers... answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this.”
South African newspaper City Press reported that a cricket bat covered in blood had been recovered from Pistorius’s property.
Mourning ... pallbearers carry the coffin holding Reeva's body into the crematorium this morning
His arrest triggered shock across the globe and prompted reports that he might have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder in what could have been a Valentine’s Day surprise gone wrong.
But police swiftly distanced themselves from that suggestion and said there had been previous incidents of a “domestic nature” at Pistorius’s house.
His family has vowed to fight the murder charge in the “strongest terms”.
Pistorius’s best friend Justin Divaris claimed the sports star called him minutes after the shooting telling him “there has been a terrible accident”, according to reports.
Pistorius’s father said he had “zero doubt” that Ms Steenkamp’s death was a tragic accident and that his son may have acted “on instinct”.
Ms Steenkamp’s father, Barry, paid tribute to her in a newspaper interview, saying the family was struggling to come to terms with her death.
He said: “There is no hatred in our hearts. He must be going through things that we don’t know about.
“We ask the Lord every day to help us find a reason why this should happen to Reeva. She was the most beautiful, kind girl in the world.”
Pistorius’s management company has issued a statement announcing it had “no option” but to cancel all future races in which the double amputee was contracted to compete.
Pistorius, who won two gold medals and a silver at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, was contracted to compete in the Manchester City Games on May 25, following Qantas Tour races in Australia on March 9 and 16 and meetings in Rio de Janeiro (March 31) and Iowa (April 26).
Meanwhile, French fashion house Thierry Mugler has become the latest high-profile sponsor to distance itself from Oscar Pistorius as the Paralympian fights murder charges.
The company will withdraw all products featuring Pistorius, including its ’A*men Pure Shot’ fragrance, all point-of-sale advertising featuring Pistorius, and all references to the athlete on its website.
(Culled from http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4802187/Oscar-Pistorius-breaks-down-at-bail-hearing.html)
