Zeenews Sports Bureau
Pretoria (South Africa): In a shocking incident, South Africa’s inspirational Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was on Thursday charged with the murder of his model girlfriend who was shot inside his home.
Who is Oscar Pistorius?»
Oscar’s girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot in the head and her arm, and died instantly, although the details surrounding the incident remain unclear.
Pistorius was questioned for hours by police officials who confirmed the charges against him and said they have planned to oppose his expected application for bail at a court hearing scheduled for Friday. The reports have said that Pistorius’ hearing was originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon but it was later postponed until Friday to give forensic investigators some more time to carry out their work.
Some reports are suggesting that Pistorius, also known as the ‘Blade Runner’ because of his blade-like prosthetic running legs, mistook her girlfriend for a burglar and shot her to protect himself in a case of a Valentine’s Day surprise gone terribly wrong.
But a South African police spokesperson sounded sceptical that there had been a case of mistaken identity and revealed that police have previously been called in to deal with “domestic incidents”.
The incident is said to have happened at about 3 am local time and the police were called in by someone else and not the man who has come to be known as the ‘Blade Runner’.
The athlete became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympic Games when he took on the best in the world at the London 2012 Games last year, even making it to the semi finals of the 400m run.
Investigations are underway in Pretoria as reactions to the shocking incident are still streaming in.
First Published: Thursday, February 14, 2013, 13:06