MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - On September 11, 2014, a verdict will be passed in the case of Oscar Pistorius, a six-time South African Paralympic champion, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend.
Pistorius is a double amputee runner who has also taken part in able-bodied competitions. Pistorius won a silver medal in the 4x400 meter relay at the 2011 world championship.
On February 14, 2013, Pistorius was accused of the murder of his girlfriend, 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, whose body was found in his toilet room on that day. The media reported that Steenkamp was planning a surprise for Pistorius on Valentine's Day, but that he mistook her for a robber.
The runner admitted that he killed his girlfriend, but said it was an accident. Investigators almost immediately presented a different version of events, as neighbors had heard a loud quarrel in the runner's house, and called the police two hours before the tragedy. Medics and police arrived at the crime scene in his house in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. local time. According to the police, the victim had two gunshot wounds in the head and one hand. They found a 9 mm pistol at the crime site, the license for which belonged to Pistorius.
Pistorius stood before the court for the first time on February 15. He was accused of premeditated murder, but pleaded not-guilty, insisting on his version of the incident. According to him, he had woken up in the middle of the night and went to get a fan from the balcony. On his return to the bedroom he heard sounds from the bathroom (adjacent to the toilet room but separated from it by a door), and thought that a robber had entered the house through a window. Pistorius kept a pistol under a pillow after he was threatened with murder. He retrieved it, and made his way into the bathroom. Without switching on the light, he shot several times at the door to the toilet room, shouting at his girlfriend to call the police. Only when he heard no answer did he suspect that Steenkamp might have been in the toilet room. After knocking in the door with a cricket bat, Pistorius found her covered in blood but still alive. He lifted her up and carried to the bed, but she died in his arms.
On February 19, 2013 Pretoria Prosecutor Gerrie Nel charged Pistorius with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp. In February 2013, the court released him on bail for a million South African rands (about $112,700). The court ordered him to check in at a police station twice a week, not to appear at the crime site, not to leave the country, to renounce communication with witnesses in his case, hand in his passport and firearms, and abstain from alcohol and drugs.
In March 2013, his lawyers appealed the court's decision not to allow him to leave the country, and the appeal was granted. Pistorius was ordered to present a detailed plan of his trips no later than a week before leaving South Africa. He was also ordered to return his passport to the court in 24 hours upon his return to the country.
In March 2014, the court in Pretoria began to review the facts of the case. Earlier, hearings had been suspended twice in the summer of 2013. On June 30, psychiatrists determined that Pistorius was fully responsible for his actions at the time of shooting.
In the defense's closing statement on August 7, Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux said that the state prosecution did not present facts that could prove Pistorius's actions were intentional, and that for this reason he could only be charged with manslaughter.
On September 11, 2014, a verdict will be passed in the Pistorius case. If he is declared guilty, he could be sent to prison for 25 years.
