Reeve Steenkamp is the girlfriend of accused olympic champion Oscar Pistorius, she was found murdered on Valentine's day in his apartment and he is the number one suspect.
The bathroom where she was murdered is now
the focus of a murder inquiry.
Meanwhile Boxes of
'steroids, testosterone' and needles were found at the Blade Runner's home
where he shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead after 'non-stop' arguing, a court
heard today.
The details were
revealed by the prosecution on the second day of the 26-year-old athlete's bail
hearing at Pretoria Magistrates' Court where he faces a charge of premeditated
murder.
Pistorius looked
distraught and sobbed with his head lowered as the packed court heard the
post-mortem showed three entrance wounds - the bullets hit the right side of
Miss Steenkamp's head, her right elbow - which resulted in a broken arm - and
her hip.
In the first half
of the morning session damning allegations surfaced that the police and
prosecution say undermine his defence, but after a recess his defence team fire
tough questions at the main witness, chief investigative officer Hilton Botha.
As the prosecution
began setting out its case on Wednesday, they claimed a witness heard gunshots,
saw the lights on, heard 'a female screaming' and then more shots.Mr Botha -
the first officer on the scene - told the packed court a separate witness said
they heard an hour-long fight between 2.am and 3.am before the sound of
gunshots rang out.
Earlier Mr Botha
said he arrived at the upscale Pretoria house at about 4.15am last Thursday and
the 29-year-old model had already been declared dead - 'she had on white shorts
and black vest. She was covered in towels.'
Pistorius, who
underwent below-the-knee amputations when he was 11 months old, said he shot
through the toilet cubicle door while on his stumps but the court heard the
bullets' trajectory was through the top of the door.
Mr Botha said he
believed the bullets were fired down, suggesting that Pistorius was wearing his
prosthetic legs when the shots were discharged.
Lawyers and police
studied plans of the bedroom and bathroom - a projector was used to beam the
plans up for the public and press to see.
Gerrie Nel, the
chief prosecutor asked Mr Botha if the shots were fired directly at the toilet
basin and he agreed.
'If you fire
straight at the door, you miss the toilet,' he explained.
Police believe a
cricket bat found in the bathroom was used to break down the door to the toilet
- part of the door was lying in the bathroom. One bullet cartridge was found
outside bathroom while three others were inside.
On the shower mat
in the en-suite bathroom lay a firearm and an iPhone 4 and iPhone - there was
blood spatters on one of the phones.
Mr Botha said four
phones in total were found in the athlete's home and none of them had been used
to call emergency services.
The court also
heard that two boxes of testosterone and needles were found in Pistorius'
bedroom. where they also found an overnight bag was on a couch on the left hand
side of the bed as well as slippers.
Mr Botha said he
wanted Pistorius charged additionally with a weapons violation after unlicensed
.38 calibre ammunition was found in the athlete's bedroom safe - though the
defence later claimed the ammunition belonged to the athlete's father Henke.
Pistorius has said
he had been a victim of crime and received death threats, but today the court
heard there were no records of this.
The athlete made
notes with a silver pen as the case progressed.
Mr Botha said there
was 'no way' he believed Pistorius's version of events.
He said he believed
Pistorius, who won two gold medals and a silver at London’s 2012 Paralympic
Games, was a flight risk and he was opposing bail.
He told the court
Pistorius has offshore accounts and a property in Italy - which was later
disputed by Pistorius' team - and said that he saw the runner's family looking
for documents and a specific memory stick with details of offshore accounts.
Discussing
extradition he said: 'We don't want another Dewani to happen. We're still
waiting to get him back in the country.'
He was referring to
Shrien Dewani who is wanted in South Africa over the honeymoon murder of his
wife in November 2010, but is now fighting extradition in Britain.
Today details were
released of a row he allegedly had with a man over a girl at Kyalami racetrack
where Pistorius allegedly threatened to "f*** up" the rival.
It was also claimed
he was involved in another shooting at a restaurant in Johannesburg in January
and asked the gun owner to take responsibility for the incident.
The defence will
have to prove the extenuating circumstances that would justify granting bail so
Pistorius will be free until the trial starts.
It is not expected
to begin for at least four months - it would be heard by a judge sitting
alongside two assessors – typically magistrates or retired magistrates - as the
South Africa legal system does not have a jury system. (Daily Mail UK)
No comments:
Post a Comment