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star Olympian and Paralympian athlete was charged on Friday with the murder of 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp who was shot dead at his luxury Pretoria home in a case that has gripped the world.
Police sources close to the investigation told the City Press newspaper that Steenkamp’s skull had been “crushed”.
“There was lots of blood on the bat,” one source told the paper.
Police are investigating whether the bat was used to assault Steenkamp, who was shot four times in the early hours of Thursday, or if she used it to defend herself.
Police have dismissed initial suggestions that Pistorius (26), could have mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder, and City Press said she was wearing a nightie at the time of the killing.
“The suspicion is that the first shot, in the bedroom, hit her in the hip. She then ran and hid herself in the toilet . . . He fired three more shots,” a police source told City Press.
Pistorius — a national icon who inspired people around the world when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympic Games last year — spent the weekend in a police cell after being charged with murder.
He is due to apply for bail at a new court hearing tomorrow, the same day a memorial service will be held for his slain girlfriend.
Pistorius, who had been going out with Steenkamp since November last year, faces a life sentence if convicted of premeditated murder, as alleged by state prosecutors.
His family have indicated that the star athlete, who broke down sobbing during his initial court appearance on Friday, would plead not guilty.
“We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the state’s own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all,” his uncle Arnold Pistorius said in a statement on Saturday.
As Pistorius awaits his bail application, a different picture is being painted of the once beloved South African hero.
Steenkamp has been described as a sweet and amazing person who didn’t deserve to die, which has prompted former soccer player Mark Batchelor to reveal details of what led to the fight, in November, in which Pistorius threatened to break his legs because the model had been his close friend.
The Saturday Star newspaper reported that Batchelor said Pistorius’ behaviour on a previous occasion had been problematic.
He claimed Pistorius was fuming when he discovered that, while he was participating in the London Olympics, his then-girlfriend Samantha Taylor had become involved with his multimillionaire friend, Clifton Shores producer Quinton van den Bergh.
He told the Saturday Star he was angry when he heard about the confrontation and he called several mutual friends of Pistorius to tell the runner to back off. A few days later he received a call from Pistorius.
“He called me ‘boy’ and said he wanted to clear the air, saying he had heard I had a problem with him. I told him that he can’t go around threatening people. He said he wasn’t afraid of me and the phone cut,” Batchelor claimed, adding that Pistorius had called back and sworn at him.
Batchelor said he ignored the “challenge” and was shocked to receive a call from a senior police official who asked that he attend a meeting with Pistorius.
At the meeting three police “colonels” asked about the fight, intimating that Pistorius had friends in high places.
He claimed Pistorius had a bad temper, and that at the meeting the athlete had a black eye because he had been involved in a fight with a friend the night before.
“The man I heard on the phone is a different man from the image given out there.
“He carries a gun everywhere and I have seen him being controlling to women.”
In an interview in the February edition of Afrikaans magazine Sarie, Pistorius gave a different version and told of his heartbreak.
“You can’t — or won’t — give your side of the story because you want to keep your private life private. Many of the details in the newspapers have been heartbreaking.
“You trust someone and then they go and do something very unexpected. You learn,” Pistorius told the magazine.
The prosecutor, advocate Gerrie Nel, said the state would be pursuing a charge of premeditated murder, and that Pistorius would have to argue exceptional circumstances if he wanted bail. — Sapa/news24.com.
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