Thread: 'Blade runner' Pistorius charged with murder of model girlfriend

'Blade runner' Pistorius charged with murder of model girlfriend

By Josh Levs, Faith Karimi, and Nkepile Mabuse, CNN
updated 3:05 PM EST, Thu February 14, 2013



Report: Woman shot dead at Pistorius house

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Oscar Pistorius once tweeted a photo of himself at a gun range
• NEW: Nike pulls an ad featuring Pistorius and the word "bullet"
• NEW: Reeva Steenkamp tweeted Wednesday about her "boo" making her a shake
• Pistorius was arrested for assault in 2009 but the case was dropped , police say

Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- A beloved model is dead, those who knew her are in mourning, and one of the world's most admired Olympians is charged with her murder after a Valentine's Day shooting in South Africa.

Oscar Pistorius, a Paralympic runner who blazed new terrain by competing in last summer's Olympics, is accused of killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. A shooting took place inside his upscale home in Pretoria, South Africa, early Thursday, and only the two of them were there at the time, police said.

Shock waves from the incident quickly reverberated across the world, casting a shadow over the man known as the "Blade Runner" for his achievements on prosthetic limbs.

Pistorius will be named officially as the suspect when he appears in court Friday, in keeping with South African law. Authorities have already announced that the suspect is Pistorius' age.

Investigators gave no motive for the alleged killing.



Read more: 'Blade runner' Pistorius: Track hero at center of shooting probe

"Previous incidents" at the home, police say
Police were alerted to the shooting by neighbors, and residents had "heard things earlier," spokeswoman Denise Beukes said.

A police spokeswoman said there had been "previous incidents" at the home, including "allegations of a domestic nature." They did not detail what those may be.

Pistorius was arrested and accused of common assault in 2009, but the case was thrown out because of a lack of evidence, police told CNN on Thursday.

That incident involved Pistorius allegedly slamming a door during a party, and a piece of the door fell off and hit someone, said Capt. Marissa Van der Merwe of South African police.

Police are not aware of any prior incidents between Pistorius and Steenkamp, Van der Merwe said.

Some South African media outlets suggested Pistorius may have mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder. South Africa has a high crime rate, and many homeowners keep weapons to ward off intruders.

Beukes said those reports did not come from police. There did not appear to be signs of forced entry at the home, she added.

"This is a very quiet area, and this is a secure estate," Beukes said.

A pistol was recovered at the scene, police said.

In November 2011, Pistorius tweeted a photo of himself at a gun range, and wrote that he had "a 96% headshot over 300m from 50 shots! Bam!"

Read more: Who was Oscar Pistorius' girlfriend?

Pistorius cooperating with police
Pistorius has made no public statement. His spokeswoman Kate Silvers said the athlete is "assisting the police with their investigation but there will be no further comment until matters become clearer later today." Police also said Pistorius is cooperating.

He arrived Thursday at a police station in Pretoria.

Beukes said the state will oppose bail. That means the 26-year-old, who was among the men featured in People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" issue, could be behind bars, at least temporarily.

Pistorius is not being brought to court Thursday because the public prosecutor needs more time to prepare the case, police spokeswoman Katlego Mogale told CNN.

A model's life violently cut short
Steenkamp, 29, had been looking forward to Valentine's Day, encouraging her Twitter followers to "get excited" for the holiday.

On Wednesday, she tweeted, "It's a beautiful day! Make things happen. Starting my day off with a yummy healthy shake from my boo," followed by a smiley face. "Boo" is a term for boyfriend.

"She was the kindest, sweetest human being; an angel on earth and will be sorely missed," Capacity Relations, the agency that represented her, wrote on Twitter.

She was "just a great, fun presence of a person," said Hagen Engler, former editor of the magazine FHM. He described her as "a bikini model, beautiful, gorgeous girl" with a "wicked" sense of humor. She understood the industry and was intelligent and fun to work with, he said.

Pistorius' father, Henke, told the South African Broadcasting Corp. his son was "sad at the moment."

"I don't know nothing. It will be extremely obnoxious and rude to speculate," the father said. "I don't know the facts."

Nike pulls ad
Nike pulled an ad featuring Pistorius from its website Thursday. The ad showed Pistorius taking off for a run, and contained the words" I am the bullet in the chamber."

The company issued a statement expressing "sympathy and condolences to the families concerned following this tragic incident." The company added that it will not comment further, noting that the situation is a police matter.

Other Pistorius sponsors -- including prosthetics manufacturer Ossur, British Telecom, and Oakley, which makes sunglasses and other products -- expressed condolences and said they had no further comment at this time. Fashion company Thierry Mugler had no comment.

As Olympian, Pistorius faced controversy
Pistorius, a double amputee, competed against able-bodied runners during the London Olympics, triggering controversy as some said the prosthetic limbs gave him an advantage. His legs were amputated below the knee when he was a toddler because of a bone defect. He runs on special carbon fiber blades.

Pistorius was initially refused permission to enter the Olympics, but he hired a legal team to prove that his artificial limbs did not give him an unfair advantage -- and was allowed to compete.

While he did not win a medal, his presence on the track was lauded by many people around the world as an example of victory over adversity and dedication to a goal.

He smashed a Paralympic record to win the men's 400m T44 in the final athletics event of the 2012 Games.

In an October interview with CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight," Pistorius discussed the "massive blessing" of inspiring people around the world.

"Being an international sportsman, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that, so having to toggle that and remembering, you know, that there are kids out there, especially, that look up to you -- it's definitely something that you need to keep at the back of your mind."

In December: Pistorius speaks to Piers Morgan about being a role model

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/world/africa/south-africa-blade-runner-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Experts: Pistorius violated basic firearms rules

By JOHN LEICESTER
AP Sports Writer

By JOHN LEICESTER The Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 - 9:42 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 - 10:38 am

JOHANNESBURG -- Even if Oscar Pistorius is acquitted of murder, firearms and legal experts in South Africa believe that, by his own account, the star athlete violated basic gun-handling regulations and exposed himself to a homicide charge by shooting into a closed door without knowing who was behind it.

Particularly jarring for firearms instructors and legal experts is that Pistorius testified that he shot at a closed toilet door, fearing but not knowing for certain that a nighttime intruder was on the other side. Instead of an intruder, Pistorius' girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was in the toilet cubicle. Struck by three of four shots that Pistorius fired from a 9 mm pistol, she died within minutes. Prosecutors charged Pistorius with premeditated murder, saying the shooting followed an argument between the two. Pistorius said it was an accident.

South Africa has stringent laws regulating the use of lethal force for self-protection. In order to get a permit to own a firearm, applicants must not only know those rules but must demonstrate proficiency with the weapon and knowledge of its safe handling, making it far tougher to legally own a gun in South Africa than many other countries where a mere background check suffices.

Pistorius took such a competency test for his 9 mm pistol and passed it, according to the South African Police Service's National Firearms Center. Pistorius' license for the 9 mm pistol was issued in September 2010. The Olympic athlete and Paralympic medalist should have known that firing blindly, instead of at a clearly identified target, violates basic gun-handling rules, firearms and legal experts said.

"You can't shoot through a closed door," said Andre Pretorius, president of the Professional Firearm Trainers Council, a regulatory body for South African firearms instructors. "People who own guns and have been through the training, they know that shooting through a door is not going to go through South African law as an accident."

"There is no situation in South Africa that allows a person to shoot at a threat that is not identified," Pretorius added. "Firing multiple shots, it makes it that much worse. ...It could have been a minor - a 15-year-old kid, a 12-year-old kid - breaking in to get food."

The Pistorius family, through Arnold Pistorius, uncle of the runner, has said it is confident that the evidence will prove that Steenkamp's death in the predawn hours of Feb. 14 was "a terrible and tragic accident."

In an affidavit to the magistrate who last Friday freed him on bail, Pistorius said he believed an intruder or intruders had gotten into his US$560,000 ((EURO)430,000) two-story house, in a guarded and gated community with walls topped by electrified fencing east of the capital, Pretoria, and were inside the toilet cubicle in his bathroom. Believing he and Steenkamp "would be in grave danger" if they came out, "I fired shots at the toilet door" with the pistol that he slept with under his bed, he testified.

Criminal law experts said that even if the prosecution fails to prove premeditated murder, firing several shots through a closed door could bring a conviction for the lesser but still serious charge of culpable homicide, a South African equivalent of manslaughter covering unintentional deaths through negligence.

Johannesburg attorney Martin Hood, who specializes in firearm law, said South African legislation allows gun owners to use lethal force only if they believe they are facing an immediate, serious and direct attack or threat of attack that could either be deadly or cause grievous injury.

According to Pistorius' own sworn statement read in court, he "did not meet those criteria," said Hood, who is also the spokesman for the South African Gun Owners' Association.

"If he fired through a closed door, there was no threat to him. It's as simple as that," he added. "He can't prove an attack on his life ... In my opinion, at the very least, he is guilty of culpable homicide."

The Associated Press emailed a request for comment to Vuma, a South African reputation management firm hired by the Pistorius family to handle media questions about the shooting.

The firm replied: "Due to the legal sensitivities around the matter, we cannot at this stage answer any of your questions as it might have legal implications for a case that still has to be tried in a court of law." Vuma said on Monday it referred the AP's questions to Pistorius' legal team, which by Tuesday had not replied.

Culpable homicide covers unintentional deaths ranging from accidents with no negligence, like a motorist whose brakes fail, killing another road user, "to where it verges on murder or where it almost becomes intentional," said Hood.

Sentences - ranging from fines to prison - are left to courts to determine and are not set by fixed guidelines.

The tough standards for legally acquiring a gun were instituted in part because of a wave of weapons purchases after the end of racist white rule in 1994, said Rick De Caris, a former legal director in the South African police. Under South Africa's white-minority apartheid regime, gun owners often learned how to handle firearms during military service. Many of the new gun owners had little or no firearms training, which brought tragic results, De Caris said.

"People were literally shooting themselves when cleaning a firearm," said De Caris, who helped draft the Firearms Control Act of 2000.

Prospective gun owners must now take written exams that include questions on the law, have to show they can safely handle and shoot a gun and are required to hit a target the size of a glossy magazine in 10 of 10 shots from seven meters (23 feet), said Pretorius of the Professional Firearm Trainers Council.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he wasn't wearing his prosthetic limbs "and felt extremely vulnerable" after hearing noise from the toilet.

"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," he testified.

Legal experts said they are puzzled why Pistorius apparently didn't first fire a warning shot to show the supposed intruder he was armed. Also unanswered is why, after he heard noise in his bathroom that includes the toilet cubicle, Pistorius still went toward the bathroom - toward the perceived danger - rather than retreat back into his bedroom.

"He should have tried to get out of the situation," said Hood, the attorney.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/26/5218715/experts-pistorius-violated-basic.html

Read more here: Experts: Pistorius violated basic firearms rules - Wire Sports - The Sacramento Bee