South African newspaper claims Pistorius is a habitual liar

New York: A leading South African paper has reportedly claimed that the Paralympic runner, who is facing trial for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, had lied to the media twice.

The story headlined `Oscar is a liar` on the front page of the Sunday Times reportedly revealed how Pistorius had lied to its reporters just weeks before he shot Steenkamp on Valentine`s Day last year. The newspaper said that Pistorius was so obsessed with maintaining his squeaky clean public image and lucrative sponsorship deals that he repeatedly lied to try to cover up an assault during December 2012, for which he had to receive medical attention, the New York Daily News reported. The newspaper also claimed that the athlete even lied about his relationship with Steenkamp in an interview on January 14 last year, denying that he was in a serious relationship with the model. Pistorius had reportedly told the newspaper that he was not ready for anything serious, exactly a month before he shot Steenkamp dead, saying that he was focusing on his career for then, because women "lie" when they say they do not mind if a man is busy much of the time. However, in the court this week, Pistorius gave testimony that he and Steenkamp had been in a `serious` relationship since the end of December 2012. The athlete also reportedly admitted in court that he had been assaulted at a function in December 2012 and had to receive stitches to the back of his head, adding that he believed that the incident was linked to a grudge involving himself and controversial former soccer player Marc Batchelor. However, when a reporter from the newspaper approached Pistorius and Steenkamp after being tipped off about the incident, both of them repeatedly denied that any such incident had taken play, the report added.