Wednesday, February 20, 2013

FOXNews.com: 'BLADE RUNNER' CASE:Testosterone, Needles in Pistorius' Home, Police Say

FOXNews.com
FOX News Channel - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com
'BLADE RUNNER' CASE:Testosterone, Needles in Pistorius' Home, Police Say
Feb 20th 2013, 10:47

PRETORIA, South Africa –  Police say they found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the bedroom of Oscar Pistorius' bedroom, but his defense lawyer says it was an "herbal remedy" and not a banned substance.

Detective Hilton Botha made the revelation in a bail hearing Wednesday after Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp. Botha said police made the discovery but offered no further details.

Pistorius' lawyer Barry Roux said it was "not a steroid and it is not a banned substance." Roux says police "take every piece of evidence and try to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court."

An International Paralympic Committee spokesman says Pistorius was drug tested on Aug. 25 and Sept. 8 last year and both were negative.

A detective also testified that Pistorius is a flight risk and shouldn't be granted bail. Botha also said in the star athlete's bail hearing Wednesday that Pistorius illegally possessed .38-caliber ammunition in a safe in his bedroom. 

The policeman testified that Pistorius did not have a license for a .38-caliber weapon and consequently possession of that ammunition was illegal.

Pistorius said in an affidavit read out by his senior defense lawyer Tuesday that the Valentine's Day killing of Steenkamp was accidental and that he shot her by mistake in fear of an intruder in his house. He said he kept a 9 mm pistol under his bed and was worried about violent home robberies and had also received death threats. South Africa's society is distressed by high levels of violent crime.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court on the first day of the hearing that he would elaborate on the state's version that the 29-year-old Steenkamp and the world's most famous Paralympic athlete had a fight the night of her death and that she fled to the toilet before Pistorius shot four times into the locked door of the toilet enclosed in his bathroom, hitting her three times and killing her.

Since Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder, the magistrate said his defense must offer "exceptional" reasons for him to be freed on bail.

"She locked that door for a purpose. We'll get to that purpose," prosecutor Nel told the packed courtroom, which had a capacity of 60 but was crammed with around 100 people Tuesday.

Pistorius again arrived before 7 a.m. local time Wednesday, via a different entrance to the courthouse than was used before his first appearance at his bail hearing. Television cameras huddled to get a shot of the Olympic runner in the back seat of the white-and-blue police car.

Reporters lined up hours before the hearing to get seats in the courtroom and police planned to shut down some roads around the busy court building.

People walking by carried newspapers with bold headlines about Pistorius' court affidavit, which was the first time he had publicly explained his version of the events that unfolded in the early hours of last Thursday morning at his villa in a gated community.

Steenkamp's shooting death and Pistorius' arrest and murder charge stunned South Africa, where he is a national hero. It also sent shock waves across the world, which knows Pistorius as a disabled sports icon known as the Blade Runner and an inspiring story of someone who overcame adversity and the amputation of his lower legs as a baby to become an Olympic athlete.

In the 11-page court affidavit, the Paralympic champion said he did not have his prosthetic legs on and felt "extremely vulnerable" in the predawn hours of Feb. 14 when he thought that Steenkamp was an intruder in a toilet cubicle inside his bathroom. He said he was on his stumps when he fired into the door and then realized his tragic error when he backed away to his "pitch dark" bedroom and realized the model and law graduate, whom he had been dating for a few months, was not in bed.

The state alleges the shooting was premeditated and that Pistorius took time to put on his prosthetic legs and walk 20 feet to the toilet before opening fire.

Forensic reports may be able to establish the truth by studying the angle and height of the bullet holes in the toilet door.

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 
Great HTML Templates from easytemplates.com.