The magistrate ruled that Pistorius faces the harshest bail requirements available in South African law.
he statements from Oscar Pistorius' defense and the prosecution give conflicting accounts of what happened in the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Feb. 14.Excerpts from the affidavit made by Pistorius, and read out in court by senior defense lawyer Barry Roux, in a bail hearing Tuesday after the athlete was charged with premeditated murder for the killing of his model girlfriend: "I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder, as I had no intention to kill my girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp ("Reeva"). ... I deny the aforesaid allegation in the strongest terms. ... "On the 13th of February 2013 Reeva would have gone out with her friends and I with my friends. Reeva then called me and asked that we rather spend the evening at home. I agreed. ... By about 22h00 on 13 February 2013 we were in our bedroom. She was doing her yoga exercises and I was in bed watching television. My prosthetic legs were off. We were deeply in love and I could not be happier. I know she felt the same way. She had given me a present for Valentine's Day but asked me only to open it the next day. "After Reeva finished her yoga exercises she got into bed and we both fell asleep. I am acutely aware of violent crime being committed by intruders entering homes ... I have received death threats before. I have also been a victim of violence and of burglaries before. For that reason I kept my firearm, a 9 mm Parabellum, underneath my bed when I went to bed at night.
"During the early morning hours of 14 February 2013, I woke up, went onto the balcony to bring the fan in and closed the sliding doors, the blinds and the curtains. I heard a noise in the bathroom and realized that someone was in the bathroom. ... I felt a sense of terror rushing over me. ... "I believed that someone had entered my house. I was too scared to switch a light on. "I grabbed my 9 mm pistol from underneath my bed. On my way to the bathroom I screamed words to the effect for him/them to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police. It was pitch dark in the bedroom and I thought Reeva was in bed. I noticed that the bathroom window was open. I realized that the intruder/s was/were in the toilet because the toilet door was closed and I did not see anyone in the bathroom. ... "It filled me with horror and fear of an intruder or intruders being inside the toilet. ... As I did not have my prosthetic legs on and felt extremely vulnerable, I knew I had to protect Reeva and myself. I believed that when the intruder/s came out of the toilet we would be in grave danger. ... "I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police. She did not respond ... Everything was pitch dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light. Reeva was not responding. "When I reached the bed, I realized that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet. I returned to the bathroom calling her name. I tried to open the toilet door but it was locked. I rushed back into the bedroom and opened the sliding door exiting onto the balcony and screamed for help. "I put on my prosthetic legs, ran back to the bathroom and tried to kick the toilet door open. I think I must then have turned on the lights. I went back into the bedroom and grabbed my cricket bat to bash open the toilet door. ... Reeva was slumped over but alive. "I battled to get her out of the toilet and pulled her into the bathroom. I phoned Johan Stander ("Stander") who was involved in the administration of the estate and asked him to phone the ambulance. ... I carried her downstairs in order to take her to the hospital. ... I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms. ...
"I cannot bear to think of the suffering I have caused her and her family, knowing how much she was loved. I also know that the events of that tragic night were as I have described them and that in due course I have no doubt the police and expert investigators will bear this out."
Excerpts from the prosecution's affidavit against Pistorius:"The incident took place in the residence of the applicant (Pistorius) and we are confident that it will not be in dispute that (Pistorius) fired four shots, three of which hit the deceased and caused her death. She was unarmed and inside a toilet with the door closed. The applicant fired shots from outside the closed door of the toilet. ...
"There were two people in the house during the evening of 13-14 February 2013 — the applicant and the deceased, who were in a relationship. The deceased arrived between 1700 and 1800 on the 13th of February 2013 and planned to spend the night with the accused. An overnight bag was found in the main bedroom and a cosmetic bag in the bathroom (scene of crime). The deceased was shot three times whilst she was in the toilet behind a closed door.
"The bathroom and the toilet is about six meters (yards) from the main bedroom and upstairs from the main entrance and living area of the applicant's house. A passage links the bathroom and bedroom. The house is situated in a security complex with 24-hour security available.
"The door to the toilet was broken open from the outside — the only reasonable inference being that it was locked and could not be opened. (Pistorius) gained access to the toilet and carried the deceased downstairs where he walked into security guards. The main door of the house was not locked. (Pistorius) told his sister that he thought it was a burglar. We argue that this was part of the pre-planning to use as a defense. Why would a burglar lock himself into a toilet? There may have been an argument earlier between (Pistorius) and the deceased. ...
"There is no possible explanation to support his report that he thought that it was a burglar. Even (in) his own version, he readied himself, walked to the bathroom with the clear intention and plan to kill the 'burglar' and did so whilst the burglar was harmless and contained in a toilet. This in itself also constitutes premeditated murder of a 'defenseless burglar.'
"It is our respectful argument that 'pre-planning' or premeditation do not require months of planning — if ... I ready myself and walk a distance with the intention to kill someone, it is premeditated."
The Pretoria Magistrate Court on Tuesday postponed Paralympian Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing to Wednesday.Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled that the bail hearing be heard under Schedule 6 Offence of the Criminal Procedure Act. This means that Pistorius faces a charge of pre-meditated murder for which bail is granted under exceptional circumstances. The court room was packed to the brim with scores of local and international journalists jostling to enter the court room. Pistorius was arrested on Thursday on allegations of shooting his girl friend Reeva Steenkamp at his luxury Silver Woods Estate home east of South Africa's capital, Pretoria. He has been in custody since his arrest. Pistorius claims he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar. Reeva Steenkamp was a model and a law graduate. The two had been seeing each other since late last year. During the bail hearing in court, Pistorius appeared exhausted, distraught and in tears. State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel opposed bail, saying Pistorius pre-meditated the murder of his girlfriend. Nel told the court that the state evidence is that Steenkamp was shot three times behind a closed bathroom door. He added that before the murder, Pistorius woke up, put on his prosthetic legs and walked seven metres to the bathroom where he shot his girlfriend three times through the bathroom door. "The door was broken open from outside. There is no possible information to support his version that it was a burglar," Nel said. He said that by preparing and arming himself Oscar's motive was to kill. He further argued that no burglar could break into a house and lock himself in the bathroom. However, Pistorius's lawyer Advocate Barry Roux disagreed, "We submit it's not even murder," Roux said. In his affidavit read in court in support of his bail application, Pistorius said, "I have no intention to relocate as I love my country. I deny that I committed murder." The affidavit revealed for the first time Pistorius's version of what happened on that fateful Thursday morning. He wrote that on 13 February he and Steenkamp agreed to have a quiet dinner at home. Steenkamp did yoga exercises before the two fell asleep. Pistorius alleged he went out of the bedroom to get a fan and he heard noises in the bathroom. He screamed that the person must come out and later fired gun shots not knowing Reeva was inside. He then used a cricket bat to break the bathroom door and found Reeva slumped over in the toilet still alive and called paramedics but she later died. "We were deeply in love and couldn't be happier. I did not mean to kill Reeva," Pistorius said. The 26-year-old athlete's both legs were amputated before he could even walk after doctors discovered that he was born without the slender born supporting his legs below knee joint. Though he has used prosthetic legs since childhood, he went on to win gold, silver and bronze medals in world paralympic games. However, his agent has since announced that all his planned competitions have been cancelled to allow him to deal with the murder charges he is facing. As Pistorius's lawyers fought hard inside the court to get him bail, there was a lot of activity outside the court and away. A group of women including members of the ruling African National Congress Women's League protested outside the Pretoria Magistrate court calling on the court to deny bail to the murder accused. Some carried placards written, "No bail for Pistorius," and "Pistorius must rot in jail." Also on Tuesday, the family of Steenkamp gathered at a private memorial service at her home town in Port Elizabeth. Her body was later cremated at the Victoria Park Crematorium in the presence of family members and a few invited guests. Steenkamp's bother Adam Steenkamp said her death had traumatised the family. "Everyone is sad understandably but at certain points we were smiling towards remembering Reeva because we only have good memories of her," he said. Family spokesperson Michael Steenkamp sobbed bitterly when expressing the family's sorrow. He said, "We are all here together as family and there is only one thing missing, Reeva."
South African Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana on Tuesday led a demonstration outside the Pretoria Magistrate Court, uring prosecutors to deny bail to paralympian Oscar Pistorius.The minister said gender-based violence taking place in the country "must stop". During the court's proceeding to hear Pistorius bail application, Xingwana and a group of women protested outside the court, calling for justice to be done in the murder case of Pistorius charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Feb. 14. "We have come here to support the family of Reeva Steenkamp whose young life was so cruelly taken away from us on day that is dedicated to love. As we think about Reeva Steenkamp, we must boldly declare with one united voice, that the spate of gender based violence taking place across the length and breadth of our land must stop," Xingwana said. The protest was led by the ruling Africa National Congress (ANC) Women's League and supported by community based women pressure groups. "We are here to communicate a clear and unequivocal message that violence against women will not be tolerated in our free and democratic society," the minister added. The minister took the event to speak against domestication of guns in South Africa. She said South Africa need to wage a sustained and effective campaign against the availability of guns in the homes. The reality is that Steenkamp would have been alive if there was no gun in Pistorius' s house, she said. "This tragedy is a vocal call to our nation to intensify gun control in order to protect the lives of women and children." Protestors said they are confident that criminal justice system will do everything in its power to ensure that Steenkamp and other victims of crime get justice. "We have confidence that those found guilty of this heinous crime will face the full wrath of our criminal justice system, irrespective of their stature in society, "Xingwana said. The minister called for "heaviest possible sentence" against Pistorius and those found guilty of women and child abuse in South Africa. "This will send a clear message to all would-be perpetrators that our society and justice system will not tolerate these crimes," she said, adding that South Africans must be concerned at the growing reports of women who continue to die at the hands of their partners. The court postponed hearing Pistorius bail application till Wednesday.
South Africa has some of the world's worst rates of violence against females and the highest rate in the world of women killed by an intimate partner, according to a study by the Medical Research Council. Another council study estimates a child or woman is raped every four minutes. While homicide rates have dropped, the number of women killed by current or former partners has increased, said the council's Professor Rachel Jewkes. At least three women are killed by a partner every day in the country of 50 million, she said. Steenkamp campaigned actively against domestic violence and had tweeted on Twitter that she planned to join a "Black Friday" protest by wearing black in honor of a 17-year-old girl who was gang-raped and mutilated two weeks ago. What "she stood for, and the abuse against women, unfortunately it's gone right around and I think the Lord knows that statement is more powerful now," her uncle and the family spokesman Mike Steenkamp said after her memorial. He said the family had planned a big get-together at Christmas but that had not been possible. "But we are here today as a family and the only one who's missing is Reeva," he said, breaking down and weeping. At the court, Nel said the killing was premeditated because Pistorius had planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder, and had told that story to his sister, Aimee. "It was all part of the preplanning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?" Nel asked. The shooting happened at Pistorius' home in a guarded and gated community in a luxury suburb of Pretoria. Roux, in arguing that Pistorius should be freed on bail, he said there were no other charges outstanding against the double-amputee who last year became the first double-amputee track athlete to run at the Olympics. Legal experts say it could take months for the case to be tried. Pistorius, in a gray suit and tie, nodded after the chief magistrate asked if he was well. And he nodded his appreciation when his brother, Carl, pressed his shoulder in support. Journalists jammed into the courtroom, which was full with almost 100 people, including Pistorius' father, Henke, and sister Aimee. In an email to The Associated Press on Monday, Pistorius' longtime track coach -- who was yet to comment -- said he believes the killing was an accident.
08.37 Mr Botha says there were two iPhones and two
Blackberrys in the bedroom. No calls were made, neither for an ambulance or to
the police.
Oscar Pistorius' sister Aimee, brother
Carl and father Henke await the start of court proceedings (Reuters)
08.34 Mr Botha says Pistorius and his family tried to get at
his offshore accounts shortly after the crime. His brother Carl arrived with a
lawyer and a locksmith to open a safe in the kitchen that had a memory stick
with the account numbers.
08.37 Mr Botha says there were two iPhones and two
Blackberrys in the bedroom. No calls were made, neither for an ambulance or to
the police.
Oscar Pistorius' sister Aimee, brother
Carl and father Henke await the start of court proceedings (Reuters)
08.34 Mr Botha says Pistorius and his family tried to get at
his offshore accounts shortly after the crime. His brother Carl arrived with a
lawyer and a locksmith to open a safe in the kitchen that had a memory stick
with the account numbers.
Why would he himself not phone 911 or whatever the emergency number is in S.A.?
Yes, sounds like he was thinking of taking off, grab the money and run!
Witnesses heard “non-stop shouting” in the home of Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius shortly before his girlfriend was shot dead, the lead detective in the murder investigation said on Wednesday.
Warrant officer Hilton Botha, a detective with 24 years on the force, also told the Pretoria magistrates court that police had found two containers of testosterone and needles in Pistorius’ bedroom.
Pistorius, a double amputee known as the “Blade Runner” because of his high-technology carbon fibre blades, broke down in tears as Botha presented his testimony about the death of law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp, 29.
The shooting and allegations that have emerged at the bail hearing have stunned South Africa and the millions around the world who saw the track glory of the athlete, who has no lower legs, as an inspiring tale of triumph over adversity.
In an affidavit delivered on Tuesday, Pistorius said he slept with a 9-mm pistol under his bed and had grabbed it when he awoke in the middle of the night thinking an intruder had climbed through his bathroom window and entered the adjoining toilet.
The 26-year-old — the most successful athlete in the history of the Paralympics — then described how he fired into the toilet door in a blind panic, in the belief the intruder was lurking in the toilet.
In his testimony, Botha disputed Pistorius’ affidavit.
“I believe he knew she was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door,” the detective said, adding that the angle at which the rounds were fired suggested they were aimed deliberately at somebody on the toilet.
Pistorius had said he moved into the bathroom on his stumps — the reason he felt so vulnerable.
But Botha said the shots appear to have been fired in a “top to bottom” trajectory, suggesting Pistorius was wearing his artificial legs when he pulled the trigger.
Botha said a witness on the upscale gated community north of Pretoria where Pistorius lived had spoken of a domestic argument coming from the athlete’s home between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.
One witness then said he heard a shot, followed 17 minutes later by more shots, Botha said. Another witness spoke of a shot followed by screams, followed by more shots, he added.
Steenkamp was hit in the head, arm and hip in the locker-sized toilet room adjoining the bathroom, which itself led from the bedroom.
Sounds like a guy concerned with his virility...though I once knew a morbidly obese man who was taking it as part of his weight loss programme.
This does not work in his favour.
Pistorius had said he moved into the bathroom on his stumps — the reason he felt so vulnerable.
But Botha said the shots appear to have been fired in a “top to bottom” trajectory, suggesting Pistorius was wearing his artificial legs when he pulled the trigger.
Botha said a witness on the upscale gated community north of Pretoria where Pistorius lived had spoken of a domestic argument coming from the athlete’s home between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.
One witness then said he heard a shot, followed 17 minutes later by more shots, Botha said. Another witness spoke of a shot followed by screams, followed by more shots, he added.
We process personal data about users of our site, through the use of cookies and other technologies, to deliver our services, personalize advertising, and to analyze site activity. We may share certain information about our users with our advertising and analytics partners. For additional details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
By clicking "I AGREE" below, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our personal data processing and cookie practices as described therein. You also acknowledge that this forum may be hosted outside your country and you consent to the collection, storage, and processing of your data in the country where this forum is hosted.
Tweet
Comment