South African athletics and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius has denied murdering his girlfriend, saying he shot her by mistake thinking she was an intruder.
He told a packed bail hearing in Pretoria that he loved Reeva Steenkamp and had never intended to kill her.
Prosecutors accuse Pistorius of premeditated murder. They say he shot his girlfriend dead deliberately, firing through a locked bathroom door.
The hearing came as Steenkamp’s family held her funeral.
The case has shocked South Africans and many around the world who admire Pistorius for overcoming adversity to become a Paralympic champion.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court that in the early hours of the morning of February 14, Pistorius – a double amputee – had got up from bed, put on his prostheses, and fired his pistol through the locked door of the bathroom.
He shot four times and hit Steenkamp three times, Nel said.
He added that the defendant later broke down the bathroom door with a cricket bat and carried the body downstairs.
Read on. – bbc
