Oscar Pistorius was recently granted bail following the alleged shooting of his girlfriend. Valeri Tarassov reports…
Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was granted bail on Friday 22 February after a lengthy hearing.
The Olympian shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp four times through the bathroom door at his South African home on Valentine’s Day.
The athlete argues that he did not realise that the person behind bathroom door was his girlfriend and that he had mistaken her for an intruder. It is known that Pistorious was paranoid and afraid of intruders.
Defence lawyer Barry Roux said Steenkamp was not murdered, emphasising that there were a number of cases where men have shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.
However, the prosecutor maintains that Pistorius committed a “premeditated murder”, and his plan was to kill his girlfriend and try to get away with it by saying he mistook her for an intruder.
Judge Desmond Nair ruled that Pistorius will face a charge of premeditated murder over the death of Steenkamp. A bail of around €85,000 was set for the athlete.
More controversy appeared in a case when a new lead investigator was appointed for the case, after murder charges against the original detective in the position were reinstated.
Hilton Botha, the first detective on Pistorius’ case, is facing seven counts of attempted murder along with two other police officers for having opened fire on a minibus containing several people in October 2011, officials said on Thursday. Botha is due to appear in court to face those charges in May.
Photo via Washington Post.
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