Pistorius 'thought he shot burglar'
According to Pistorius he then smashed his way into the toilet using a cricket bat, finding her “slumped over but alive”. He then phoned for an ambulance and carried her downstairs, but she died in his arms.
The defendant said he was “absolutely mortified” by what had happened, but insisted the evidence would prove his innocence.
Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled that the case was a schedule six offence — meaning premeditated murder — for the purpose of the bail hearing.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court the victim arrived at the house between 5pm and 6pm on Wednesday, and went to the bathroom after an argument between the pair.
He said that at 3am Pistorius got up from his bed and repeatedly fired his gun through the closed toilet door.
“She couldn’t go anywhere. You can run nowhere,” Mr Nel said.
He told the court Pistorius later told a friend he thought she was a burglar.
Mr Nel said: “It was all part of the pre-planning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?”
Pistorius’s lawyer, Barry Roux, said Ms Steenkamp was not murdered, and there were a number of cases where men shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.
He also suggested that Pistorius broke down the bathroom door after the shooting to help his girlfriend.
“We submit it is not even murder,” Mr Roux said. “There is no concession this is a murder.”
Pistorius won two gold medals and a silver at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. He also competed in the Olympic Games.
Ms Steenkamp was cremated at a memorial service attended by family and friends who had travelled from around the world. Six pallbearers carried her coffin, draped with a white cloth and covered in white flowers.
Her brother, Adam Steenkamp, said after the service: “Everyone is sad, understandably, but at certain points we were smiling whilst remembering Reeva, because we only have good memories of her.” He went on: “There’s a space missing inside all the people that she knew that cannot be filled again.
“We’re going to keep all the positive things that we remember and know about my sister and we will try and continue with the things that she tried to make better. We’ll miss her.”
The bail hearing in Pretoria was adjourned until tomorrow.
Reuters
