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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Olympic runner sobs in court
Pistorius faces life sentence in death of model
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius reacts in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday at his bail hearing in the murder case of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS LTD SOUTH AFRICA-STAR)
The killing of model Reeva Steenkamp shocked South Africa. (CP)
Oscar Pistorius is revered for overcoming his disability. (MCT)
PRETORIA, South Africa -- In a courtroom, not an Olympic stadium, there was no click-click-click of Oscar Pistorius' prosthetic limbs. His only sound Friday was loud, uncontrollable sobs as prosecutors charged him with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his model girlfriend.
"Take it easy," Chief Magistrate Desmond Nasir told the Olympic star-turned-murder-defendant as his father, Henke, and his brother, Carl, reached out to touch his shoulder to comfort him.
The 26-year-old Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter who won world acclaim by competing in last summer's London Olympics, did not speak or enter a plea. He held his head and wept as he heard the charge, which carries a life sentence.
A statement released later by his family and agent said Pistorius disputed the murder charge "in the strongest terms."
The track star's arrest in the Valentine's Day killing of 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp shocked South Africa, where Pistorius was a national hero dubbed the Blade Runner for his high-tech prosthetics and revered for overcoming his disability to compete in the London Games.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said he would pursue a charge of premeditated murder against Pistorius in the slaying of Steenkamp, a model with a law degree who had spoken out on Twitter against rape and abuse of women.
She was discovered in a pool of blood before dawn Thursday by police called to Pistorius' upscale home in a gated community in the South African capital of Pretoria.
Authorities said she had been shot four times, and a 9 mm pistol was recovered at the home.
Throngs of reporters, photographers and videographers filled the brick-walled Courtroom C in Pretoria Magistrate's Court, where Pistorius appeared. Nasir's first ruling focused on the press as he dismissed requests from the state broadcaster and a private television station to air the hearing live.
Nasir also ordered that no photographs be taken while court was in session. That left dozens of photographers kneeling less than a metre from the sobbing Pistorius to simply stare at a man many had photographed previously sprinting on his famous carbon-fibre blades.
Police said investigators had conducted an autopsy on Steenkamp's body but the results would not be released.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 16, 2013 A20
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