Photos: Pistorius walks without his prosthetic leg in court to avoid jail

Oscar Pistorius shuffled without his prosthetic legs through a Pretoria court on Wednesday to demonstrate how vulnerable he is without his artificial limbs. The 29-year-old Paralympian gold medalist displayed it in an attempt by his defence team to avoid a long jail sentence for murder.

The embattled athlete faces a minimum 15-year jail term for the 2013 killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, for which state prosecutors say he has shown no remorse. Pistorius sat with his head in his hands during the third day of sentencing hearings.

He told the court that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired four shots through a locked toilet door in his Pretoria home, killing her almost instantly. The lower part of the athlete’s legs were amputated when he was a baby, and he is known as “Blade Runner” for the carbon-fibre prosthetics he wore when racing.

Pistorius lawyer Barry Roux asked his client to walk in the court on his stumps to show the difficulty he faced while dealing with the threat of an intruder. His body shaking with emotion, Pistorius then removed his prosthetics and stood on his stumps for five minutes in front of the court television camera, wiping tears from his face with a tissue.

“The accused was vulnerable because of his disability,” Roux said, asking for a non-custodial sentence that included community service.

In response, prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked the court to display photos of Steenkamp’s bloodied head and torso after the shooting. The victim’s father Barry Steenkamp had said on Tuesday Pistorius must pay for his crime and asked the court to show pictures of his daughter’s body as a deterrent to would-be killers.

The case has prompted a fierce debate in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women and still dealing with the legacy of decades of apartheid race-based rule. Some rights groups have said Pistorius, a wealthy white man, has received preferential treatment.

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New evidence shows Pistorius may have beaten Reeva before shooting her

Oscar Pistorius may have battered Reeva Steenkamp with a cricket bat before he shot her, according to a new book on the case. The six-time Paralympic gold medallist is due to be sentenced in June for the murder of his girlfriend, after his original conviction was upgraded from manslaughter.

The court heard how the amputee had fired four hollow point bullets through a toilet door striking his victim in the hip, head and arm. Pistorius had claimed that he had mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder and when he realised his mistake he used a cricket bat to batter down the door.

But Calvin and Thomas Mollett claim in their book, Oscar vs The Truth, that the bat may have been used before the shots were fired after analysing bruising on Reeva’s back that was overlooked. If this was true, it would suggest she was running away from him when he was struck.

They also claim that an argument lasted for more than an hour and didn’t take place in just the bedroom but around the house.

‘Oscar went after her with a cricket bat – infuriated that she locked herself away from him – and to scare and frighten her, he hit the door with the cricket bat about two to three times and also hit the steel plate against the bathtub wall,’ they wrote according to the Daily Maverick.

The pair came to the conclusion by examining the quantity, distribution and position of all the wounds on Reeva’s body – something they say the pathologist failed to take fully in to account. They say that many of the wounds could have been sustained with the cricket bat, which they argue was far more worn than Pistorius’ version of events suggests it would be.

During the trial, the runner had claimed he used it to batter down the door with three of four blows.
But the brothers say the handle was torn and stretched, and tests with a similar bat failed to produce any wear after 20 strikes.

‘This damage was caused by some very robust handling of the bat,’ they say.

The brothers also suggest the events took place following an argument between the couple that was heard by neighbour Estelle van der Merwe.

‘Van der Merwe said she couldn’t hear the words or language, but judging from the ‘movement’ in the tone of the voice she was confident it came from a woman.

‘It sounded like the woman was arguing with someone – although she couldn’t hear a second voice.

‘The female voice was quiet for periods ranging from five to 20 minutes, and lasted for about an hour.’

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Oscar Pistorius breaks his silence in raging text as he faces 15 years in jail for murder

Shamed sprinter Oscar Pistorius sent a furious text message to reporter - blasting - 'Have you no soul to respect someone in a time like this?'. The 29-year-old fallen champion faces at least 15 years in jail for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three years ago. He blasted the model with a gun as she cowered behind the bathroom door on the morning of Valentine's Day 2012. 

Pistorius, being held at his uncle's mansion in Pretoria, South Africa, reacted after South Africa's highest court rejected his appeal against his murder conviction. It leaves him with no legal avenue left for appeal and his lawyer admitted they will proceed to sentencing. The star's brother Carl tweeted the word 'Shattered' after the verdict.

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S. African court rules appeal against Pistorius can go ahead

Oscar Pistorious

A South Africa court dismissed Friday an attempt by Oscar Pistorius’s lawyers to stop an appeal that could see the fallen Paralympian hero spend significantly more time behind bars for killing his model girlfriend. At the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, Pistorius’s defence tried to block the state’s appeal against the champion sprinter being found not guilty of murder.

But Judge Thokozile Masipa, who presided over Pistorius’s trial, criticised the athlete’s lawyers and rejected their application. The 28-year-old Paralympian was last year found guilty of culpable homicide — a charge akin to manslaughter — and sentenced to five years in prison for shooting Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013.

State prosecutors were granted permission in December to appeal against the verdict, arguing that Masipa misinterpreted the law when she ruled Pistorius did not intentionally kill Steenkamp when he shot four times at a locked toilet door.

-AFP

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S. African court rules appeal against Pistorius can go ahead

Oscar Pistorious

A South Africa court dismissed Friday an attempt by Oscar Pistorius’s lawyers to stop an appeal that could see the fallen Paralympian hero spend significantly more time behind bars for killing his model girlfriend. At the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, Pistorius’s defence tried to block the state’s appeal against the champion sprinter being found not guilty of murder.

But Judge Thokozile Masipa, who presided over Pistorius’s trial, criticised the athlete’s lawyers and rejected their application. The 28-year-old Paralympian was last year found guilty of culpable homicide — a charge akin to manslaughter — and sentenced to five years in prison for shooting Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013.

State prosecutors were granted permission in December to appeal against the verdict, arguing that Masipa misinterpreted the law when she ruled Pistorius did not intentionally kill Steenkamp when he shot four times at a locked toilet door.

-AFP

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