Oscar Pistorius held his head in his hands and wept openly in court Friday as prosecutors said they would pursue a charge of premeditated murder against the Paralympic superstar.
Pistorius was formally charged at Pretoria Magistrate's Court with one count of murder after his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a model and budding reality TV show participant, was shot multiple times and killed at Pistorius' upmarket home in the predawn hours of Thursday.
A statement released after the court appearance by Pistorius' family and his management denied the charges.
"The alleged murder is disputed in the strongest terms," the statement, issued from London, read. It also said that Pistorius "would like to send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva."
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said Friday in court it was premeditated murder, indicating the prosecution would file that more serious charge, upgraded from murder.
This shooting happened in South Africa and not here in the United States, but it is still a very sad indication of how owning a gun makes a domestic conflict suddenly deadly. Somehow I don't think that the guy with no legs was nearly as dangerous to this young woman as a man with access to a gun.
This from The Sun:
The 26-year-old athlete was known to sleep with a pistol next to his bed, a machine gun by a window, with cricket and baseball bats behind the door.
Double amputee Pistorius explained how his disability made him especially vulnerable to an attack. He told one interviewer: “When I’m in bed and don’t have my legs on, I know there’s nothing I can do if someone breaks in.”
You know as a double amputee it might be reasonable to understand how this man could feel helpless, but it was not like he was totally unprotected:
His sprawling mansion in Pretoria is surrounded by wired fencing, 10ft high walls and cameras while guards patrol the grounds.
At first some suggested that perhaps Pistorius had killed his girlfriend by accident, but the facts did not support that theory:
When South African police were called to an upmarket gated community in Pretoria, the address was familiar to them. It was not the first time they had been summoned to the home of one of the world's most recognisable athletes, Oscar Pistorius, to deal with domestic disputes.
What they found this time was the dead body of his girlfriend. Reeva Steenkamp had been shot three times in the head and torso with a 9mm handgun.
Shot three times in the head and torso? Well I guess he showed the world what a man he was. Didn't he?
And here in America the number of gun deaths since Newtown are edging up on 1900. But remember, guns make us safer.
Well at least that's what they keep telling us.
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