Keith Girard
Oscar Pistorius competed in the 2012 London Games.
The new details are at the heart of the prosecutor’s contention that Pistorius committed a premeditated murder.
Pistorius claims he shot at what he thought was a late-night home intruder who turned out to be his girlfriend. But the latest report claims the shooting was the deadly culmination of a domestic dispute, according to a South African newspaper.
Steenkamp had actually arrived at Pistorius’s mansion in the exclusive Silver Woods Country Estate, a suburb of Pretoria, the day before the Valentine’s shooting. They spent the night and the next day together.
Reeva Steenkamp’s Stunning Beauty
Neighbors first complained of a disturbance at the house at about 1:30 am, but police apparently took no action. Then, around 3:20 am, a neighbor called police to report hearing gun shots from the house.
When police arrived they found a cricket bat covered in blood. They believe Pistorius used the bat to strike the 29-year-old model. A source told the newspaper that Steenkamp’s skull had been “crushed.” It’s not known whether he used the bat to deliver the first blow, or the final blow to finish her off.
Police believe the Olympic sprinter fired the first shot in the bedroom, where they found a spent shell. They believe Steenkamp was wounded in the hip and fled to the bathroom. She locked herself in to get away from her attacker, they said.
Pistorius fired three more shots through the door. Police theorize that she was doubled over and holding her head with her hand when one of the bullets struck her. The wounds indicated that the bullet went through her hand and hit her head.
A minute after firing the shot, Pistorius called his father and sister, who arrived at the house in ten minutes. By then, Pistorius had carried Steenkamp’s body to the front hall.
She reportedly was still alive when they arrived, but had died by the time paramedics got there. Efforts to revive her halted after 30 minutes.
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