Oscar Pistorius arrested for shooting his girlfriend dead

[Hillary]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21455453

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been arrested over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria, local media say.

Police said a 26-year-old man, who they have not named, was in custody and faces murder charges.

The precise circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear. Reports say he may have mistaken her for a burglar.

Mr Pistorius, 26, is known as the "blade runner", and was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics.

The suspect is expected to appear in court later on Thursday, reports say.

Mr Pistorius's girlfriend is being named in local media as 30-year-old model, Reeva Steenkamp.

The news that he may have killed her will shock the country as the athlete is regarded as one of South Africa's national icons, reports the BBC's Peter Biles from Cape Town.

'Fatally wounded'

The incident is said to have taken place between 04:00 and 05:00 local time (02:00-03:00 GMT).

A police statement said that a 30-year-old woman was "fatally wounded" in the early hours of Thursday morning at a home in the Silverlakes complex in the Boschkop area of the capital.

The woman had been wounded in her head and upper body. Paramedics were at the house when police arrived, but she died at the scene. A 9mm pistol was recovered.

Police gave no further details about the woman's alleged relationship with Mr Pistorius.

South Africa has among the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.

But the country also has a careful vetting process before awarding gun licences, Erika Gibson of Beeld newspaper told the BBC.

On Tuesday, a bill seeking to give police extra powers to arrest anyone carrying a dangerous weapon in public was tabled before parliament, following a spate of violent strikes and protests last year.

The athlete's home is in a high-security upmarket gated compound on the outskirts of Pretoria.

Reporters have gathered outside the estate but police have not let anybody inside, local television reports.

Mr Pistorius races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs and had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.

He reached the 400m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200m, gold in the 4x100 relay and gold in the T44 400m, setting a Paralympic record.

For years he dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games.

In 2008 he won a legal battle over his blades with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.

Icon of athletics

His achievements have made him a "living legend" and placed him among global sporting royalty, South African broadcaster and commentator Daniel Silke told the BBC.

"He's a household name, he's a hero in the South African sporting context. He is of course someone who has overcome great difficulty and tragedy in his own personal life," he added.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee said it had been inundated with questions over the incident, but was in no position to comment.

Ed Warner, head of UK Athletics also reiterated that little was known about the incident but described the reports as "shocking and very sad," adding that: "Pistorius is one of the great icons of Paralympic athletics but also of able-bodied athletics too".

The International Paralympic Committee also declined to comment on the matter as a police investigation was under way.

This is all incredibly sad - the man is a serious hero in South Africa.

[Simon_Jester]

I find it strange that the article says "The news that he may have killed her will shock the country," but feels compelled to use 'alleged' as in "Police gave no further details about the woman's alleged relationship with Mr Pistorius."

So the relationship is 'alleged,' but the murder isn't?

[Crazedwraith]

What confuses me are the first two lines:

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been arrested over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria, local media say.

Police said a 26-year-old man, who they have not named, was in custody and faces murder charges.

Has Pistorious been arrested or not? Is this unnamed individual arrested as well as Pistorious then?

[Hillary]

I find it strange that the article says "The news that he may have killed her will shock the country," but feels compelled to use 'alleged' as in "Police gave no further details about the woman's alleged relationship with Mr Pistorius."

So the relationship is 'alleged,' but the murder isn't?

Not really the first quote uses "may have".

This is the BBC; they are usually cautious about reporting stuff as fact until it has been officially confirmed - especially after recent events.

[weemadando]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/blade-ru ... 2efzk.html

The Age is saying that it was an accidental shooting - mistook her for a burglar.

[Admiral Valdemar]

He's up on murder charges now. Reports of potential domestic problems prior to this incident.

[Broomstick]

Police have also released a statement that the "mistaken for a burglar" thing didn't come from them, and they were "surprised" to hear it. Hmm... wonder how that rumor got started?

A sad thing all around, especially for the woman and her family.

[weemadando]

Yeah, lots of places reporting on his "known history of domestic violence" now.

Where were these reports during the constant cycle covering every facet of his life/history at the Olympics?

[Lagmonster]

I once had it explained to me that, back in the Homeric days, the Greeks considered a 'hero' as a man who was not necessarily good, but just excessive. Sure, Heracles was the strongest man alive, but he was also a dick who murdered people. Nowadays, when someone says that someone else is a hero, I find them using that word as if it were interchangeable with 'paragon'. I'd be afraid that this leads to people in tears when their 'hero' - a person not known because he is good, but because of that one excessively developed trait they admire - does something equally excessive into the douchebag spectrum.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I once had it explained to me that, back in the Homeric days, the Greeks considered a 'hero' as a man who was not necessarily good, but just excessive. Sure, Heracles was the strongest man alive, but he was also a dick who murdered people. Nowadays, when someone says that someone else is a hero, I find them using that word as if it were interchangeable with 'paragon'. I'd be afraid that this leads to people in tears when their 'hero' - a person not known because he is good, but because of that one excessively developed trait they admire - does something equally excessive into the douchebag spectrum.

That's pretty eye opening and, frankly, too true to the "heroes" we have today anyway. If you've done anything noble as well, that gets you the hero title, which pretty much makes the whole thing lose the meaning I think society wanted it to have.

Now I'm thinking of Achilles, especially in the Wolfgang Petersen film Troy where no attempt is made to show the Greek champion as being anything other than an arrogant prig.

I, too, wonder where all this domestic abuse stuff was hiding during the Olympics last year. It's not like there aren't journos out there who wouldn't relish raining on the parade of a star that big, as we all see how Lance Armstrong got it recently.

[Meest]

The one article that said shot four times in the head makes it hard to believe it was mistaken identity or accidental. Not sure how mobile he is all the time, does he have full time prosthetic legs on when he sleeps? Kind of hard to hit someone four times in the head without delivering some coup de grace after the initial event, and almost sounds like crime of passion.

[Broomstick]

Not sure how mobile he is all the time, does he have full time prosthetic legs on when he sleeps?

No! Prosthetic limbs aren't like that. They have to be off a certain part of the time for the health of the skin on the stump, and also to relieve pressure. Failure to do this results in decubitus ulcers even in the young and healthy.

Presumably, he does have an alternate way to get about his house when not wearing his feet, probably a wheelchair given he's missing the end bits of both legs. Putting on artificial legs isn't like putting on slippers, most amputees who need to piss in the middle of the night don't bother, they use a crutch or two (if missing one leg) or a wheelchair. Given he's young, healthy, an athlete, and still has natural knees in an emergency he could probably crawl pretty darn fast.

If it was a domestic dispute, though, he might well be fully dressed down to his shoes and thus the question would be moot.

Kind of hard to hit someone four times in the head without delivering some coup de grace after the initial event, and almost sounds like crime of passion.

Crime of passion is on the table, it has not been ruled in or out.

Alternatively, people have been known to empty a gun without realizing it in a panic situation. Semi-autos will keep firing (or trying to) as long as you keep squeezing the trigger. If, for some reason, he thought he was under threat, or in other highly emotionally charged state, multiple shots fired isn't unheard of.

[UnderAGreySky]

This may just get worse for Pistorius: Bloodied cricket bat found?

The mystery over South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius's role in the killing of the model Reeva Steenkamp has deepened amid a series of claims and counter-claims about what happened at his home in Pretoria last week.

South African newspapers reported a series of dramatic revelations about the case, in which Steenkamp was shot four times. Police denied leaking the details and Pistorius's agent refused to comment.

A police spokeswoman could not explain how the claims emerged but did not deny them. "We are not commenting on anything in the newspapers today as the case is still before the court," she said. "They are insinuating they got the information from the police. They did not."

Medupe Simasiku, of the national prosecuting authority, said the alleged leaks did not necessarily affect the court case as "the evidence [published] might be wrong".

The well-respected City Press newspaper reported that a cricket bat covered in blood was found at Pistorius's home and is the central piece of evidence against him. Citing sources close to the investigation, the paper said Steenkamp's skull was crushed and police requested Pistorius undergo drug tests.

City Press also reported that Pistorius called his father soon after 3.20am on Thursday and asked him to come to the house. When the family arrived, Pistorius was allegedly carrying Steenkamp down the stairs, her head and arms "dangling".

Oops.

[Broomstick]

And I heard a report that when the emergency responders showed up he was attempting CPR on her.

Maybe we should just all concede we don't have nearly enough information at this point and simply shut up until the trial.

I don't care how accomplished he is an athlete or how inspirational or whatever, if he did murder his girlfriend there is a price to be paid. It's up to a court to decide the matter.

[Simon_Jester]

Not sure how mobile he is all the time, does he have full time prosthetic legs on when he sleeps?

No! Prosthetic limbs aren't like that. They have to be off a certain part of the time for the health of the skin on the stump, and also to relieve pressure. Failure to do this results in decubitus ulcers even in the young and healthy.

I wonder if there's a way to design a prosthetic so it can be tightened and loosened- loosened enough that it won't cause biological damage if you wear it in bed, then tightened back down when you actually want to use it.

[Sea Skimmer]

The trouble of loosing and tightening sounds like it'd be 75% as much work as just taking it off and placing it on a bedside table. Also having a leg loosely attached might not be too comfortable while you try to fall asleep.

[Stark]

I once had it explained to me that, back in the Homeric days, the Greeks considered a 'hero' as a man who was not necessarily good, but just excessive. Sure, Heracles was the strongest man alive, but he was also a dick who murdered people. Nowadays, when someone says that someone else is a hero, I find them using that word as if it were interchangeable with 'paragon'. I'd be afraid that this leads to people in tears when their 'hero' - a person not known because he is good, but because of that one excessively developed trait they admire - does something equally excessive into the douchebag spectrum.

Heroism has been associated with personal courage for ages. We use plenty of concepts from 2500 years ago that no longer mean the same thing.

People just identify with 'idols' and 'role models' and 'celebrities'. Its pretty pathetic watching people try to internalise the idea that someone they've never met but whom they placed on a pedestal because of marketing is actually a terrible person.

Its almost like celebrity and marketing is about personal wish fulfilment through proxies. Pretty shocking!

[Flagg]

I once had it explained to me that, back in the Homeric days, the Greeks considered a 'hero' as a man who was not necessarily good, but just excessive. Sure, Heracles was the strongest man alive, but he was also a dick who murdered people. Nowadays, when someone says that someone else is a hero, I find them using that word as if it were interchangeable with 'paragon'. I'd be afraid that this leads to people in tears when their 'hero' - a person not known because he is good, but because of that one excessively developed trait they admire - does something equally excessive into the douchebag spectrum.

Heroism has been associated with personal courage for ages. We use plenty of concepts from 2500 years ago that no longer mean the same thing.

People just identify with 'idols' and 'role models' and 'celebrities'. Its pretty pathetic watching people try to internalise the idea that someone they've never met but whom they placed on a pedestal because of marketing is actually a terrible person.

Its almost like celebrity and marketing is about personal wish fulfilment through proxies. Pretty shocking!

Yeah I guess I was lucky with OJ shattering my illusions at a relatively young age, so I don't really fall into that trap anymore. Now I assume most athletes are scumbags until they prove otherwise.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Yeah I guess I was lucky with OJ shattering my illusions at a relatively young age, so I don't really fall into that trap anymore. Now I assume most athletes are scumbags until they prove otherwise.

Technically, OJ *WAS* proven innocent ...

[Broomstick]

Since there have been some more developments and some actual court activity:

In Affidavit at Bail Hearing, Track Star Denies He Intended to Kill Girlfriend

PRETORIA, South Africa — Early on Feb. 14, Oscar Pistorius says, he heard a strange noise coming from inside his bathroom, climbed out of bed, grabbed his 9-millimeter pistol, hobbled on his stumps to the door and fired four shots.

“I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated,” Mr. Pistorius said in an affidavit read Tuesday to a packed courtroom by his defense lawyer, Barry Roux. “I had no intention to kill my girlfriend.”

Prosecutors painted a far different picture, one of a calculated killer, a world-renowned athlete who had the presence of mind and calm to strap on his prosthetic legs, walk 20 feet to the bathroom door and open fire as his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, cowered inside, behind a locked door.

“The applicant shot and killed an unarmed, innocent women,” Gerrie Nel, the chief prosecutor, said in court on Tuesday. That, Mr. Nel argued, amounted to premeditated murder, a charge that could send Mr. Pistorius to prison for life.

In court, Mr. Pistorius, a Paralympic track star who competed against able-bodied athletes at the London Olympics despite having lost both his lower legs as an infant, wept uncontrollably as Mr. Roux gave the runner’s account of the fateful early morning. At one point, Magistrate Desmond Nair called a recess to allow Mr. Pistorius, who was sobbing loudly, his face contorted, to regain his composure.

“My compassion as a human being does not allow me to just sit here,” Magistrate Nair said.

As the defense and prosecution laid out their competing versions of the shooting, some details were beyond dispute.

Mr. Pistorius and Ms. Steenkamp were alone in the house, having spent the evening there. Around 3 a.m., Mr. Pistorius shot Ms. Steenkamp through the bathroom door, fatally wounding her. He broke down the door and carried her down the stairs, where she died in the foyer of his upscale home in a highly secured compound.

The young woman, a model, was cremated Tuesday on the other side of the country in her hometown, Port Elizabeth. Her family and friends mourned her and called for the authorities to deal harshly with Mr. Pistorius.

“There’s a space missing inside all the people that she knew that can’t be filled again,” her brother, Adam Steenkamp, told reporters after the memorial service.

In court, Mr. Pistorius is seeking bail on the charge of premeditated murder, but he faces an uphill battle. Magistrate Nair ruled Tuesday that the case would be treated as the most serious kind of offense, which means bail will be granted only if the defense can prove extraordinary circumstances requiring it.

The court proceedings, though they concerned only whether Mr. Pistorius would receive bail, offered the first real glimpse into what unfolded at his home on the day of the shooting.

In his affidavit, Mr. Pistorius said that he and Ms. Steenkamp had decided to stay in for the night. He canceled plans with his friends for a night on the town in Johannesburg, while she opted against movies with one of her friends. They had a quiet evening, he said. She did yoga. He watched television. About 10 p.m., they went to sleep.

In the early morning hours, he said, he woke up to move a fan from the balcony and to close the sliding doors in the bedroom.

“I heard a noise in the bathroom and realized that someone was in the bathroom,” he said. “I felt a sense of terror rushing over me.”

He had already said in the affidavit that he feared South Africa’s rampant violent crime, and later added that he was worried because there were no bars on the window to the bathroom. Construction workers had left ladders in his garden, he said.

“I believed someone had entered my house,” he said in the affidavit. “I grabbed my 9-millimeter 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.”

Walking on his stumps, he heard the sound of movement inside the toilet, a small room within the bathroom.

“It filled me with horror and fear of an intruder,” he said. “I did not have my prosthetic legs on and felt extremely vulnerable. I knew I had to protect Reeva and myself.”

He fired four shots, then hobbled over to the bedroom, screaming for Reeva to call the police. But when he got back to the bed, she was not there.

“That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet,” he said.

He went back and tried to open the door, he said, but it was locked. He went to the balcony, opened the window and screamed for help. He strapped on his prosthetic legs, ran back to the bathroom and tried to kick in the door. When that did not work, he grabbed a cricket bat.

When he finally got it open, Ms. Steenkamp lay slumped on the floor. She was still alive, he said. Mr. Pistorius called the head of security for the estate and called for an ambulance, he said. He carried Ms. Steenkamp’s body to the foyer.

“I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms,” he said. “I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva.”

Mr. Pistorius described their relationship, which began in November 2012, as a happy one without strife.

“We were deeply in love, and I could not be happier,” he said. “I know she felt the same way.”

Affidavits from friends of Mr. Pistorius made the same point, describing the pair as a well-matched couple contemplating making a life together.

Mr. Nel, the prosecutor, argued that given the sequence of events, the conclusion that Mr. Pistorius intentionally killed Ms. Steenkamp was unshakable.

“Why would a burglar lock himself into a toilet?” Mr. Nel said. “There is no possible explanation to support his report that he thought it was a burglar.”

The court recessed in the midafternoon and will continue to hear evidence in the bail hearing on Wednesday. The prosecution plans to call the police investigator, who is expected to testify about witness accounts of tensions between Mr. Pistorius and Ms. Steenkamp.

Questions about the credibility of Mr. Pistorius’s account of the killing are sure to arise. Why did he not notice that Ms. Steenkamp was not in bed? Why did Ms. Steenkamp not respond to his shouting by identifying herself in the bathroom?

With South Africa’s high rates of violent crime, many people here heard Mr. Pistorius’s fears of an intruder sympathetically.

“When things go bump in the night in Johannesburg or Pretoria, it is a scary moment,” said Antony Altbeker, a researcher who has written extensively about violent crime in South Africa. But even if a judge believes Mr. Pistorius, the shooting could still lead to a murder conviction, Mr. Altbeker said.

“If you wake up in the middle of the night and you see someone over your bed and you shoot them, that’s one thing,” Mr. Altbeker said. But “even if he had shot a burglar, he might still be convicted of murder.”

There are several versions of today's proceedings out there. A few of them ask how the prosecutor could possibly know without a doubt when Mr. Pistorius strapped on his legs. I do think that's an interesting question.

I don't doubt that even the "fastest man on no feet" would feel vulnerable when he didn't have his prosthetics on. Even if he can get around without them he'd be at a definite disadvantage in an emergency situation. Does that necessarily justify taking another human life? No, not automatically, although I can see how it would affect a perception of threat in a situation.

Apparently both sides now agree the cricket bat was used to break through the bathroom door. Whether or not it was also used to batter Steenkamp is still under debate.

If he did shoot her before putting on his legs he'd be shooting from a kneeling position. If he had his legs on he'd be shooting from a standing position. This would definitely make a difference in the height and angle the bullets penetrated the bathroom door. Logically, then, the door (or its pieces) should be recovered and reconstructed for study.

Even if Pistorius did not intend to shoot Steenkamp shooting through a closed, locked door just doesn't seem very sensible. Someone behind a locked door is not a direct threat, and you can't positively identify the target.

And, of course, this still might have been the end of a "domestic dispute" where Steenkamp fled into the bathroom to get away from an enraged Pistorius.

I don't doubt his grief is genuine, but whether it's the grief of a man who unintentionally killed his beloved or the grief of a man who regrets killing his girlfriend in anger or the grief of a premeditated murderer fearing life in prison I don't know.

[Sea Skimmer]

So in the what the hell moment of the case, the head detective on the case has now been replaced because he himself is accused of seven counts of attempted murder.

A top South African detective is to take over the Oscar Pistorius investigation amid murder accusations against the current lead officer.

Hilton Botha faces seven counts of attempted murder, police confirmed.

Commissioner Mangwashi Phiyega announced the change after a third dramatic day of testimony at Mr Pistorius' bail hearing.

Mr Pistorious, 26, denies a charge of premeditated murder over the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 29.

Ms Steenkamp died after being shot three times at Mr Pistorius' home on 14 February.

In court on Thursday defence and prosecution lawyers offered their final arguments ahead of what is expected to be a ruling on Friday.

Lead defence lawyer Barry Roux asked for the charge of premeditated murder to be downgraded, and said revelations about Mr Botha undermined the prosecution's case.

Proescutor Gerrie Nel told the court Mr Pistorius should not be granted bail simply because he is famous.

He branded Mr Pistorius as a man "prone to violence" who threatened Ms Steenkamp and eventually killed her.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21536888

No word on just what he did to face seven counts so far.

[Broomstick]

Didn't catch all of it on the TV news this morning, but I gather Mr. Botha and a few others opened fire on a "mini-bus" full of people. I don't know the motivation for that, but it does raise eyebrows.

The SAPD also said Mr. Botha is not on suspension. Really? In the US murder accusations usually result in a police officer being taken off active duty until the legal matters are resolved, so from where I sit leaving an accused murderer on the force is a bit... odd.

[fgalkin]

Yeah, but in the US, cops who shoot up a car full of civllians while on duty are usually not charged with murder anyway, so the situation is hardly analogous.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin