South African sprint star expected to apply for bail after allegedly shooting dead Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria home
Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic star and inspiration to millions around the world, was contemplating his future from a police cell on Thursday night after being charged with murdering his girlfriend.
In a drama that stunned South Africa and admirers abroad, Pistorius allegedly fired four bullets into Reeva Steenkamp's head, chest and arm at his home in the capital, Pretoria, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The life of the glamorous athlete, known as the Blade Runner for his hi-tech artificial legs, has been one of world sport's defining narratives of triumph over adversity, culminating in his appearance at the both the Olympics and Paralympics in London last year.
Yet as the 26-year-old prepared to answer a murder charge and apply for bail at Pretoria magistrates court on Friday morning, a picture emerged of a man with a playboy lifestyle, an intense interest in guns and a taste for living dangerously, suggesting that the world did not know Pistorius as well as it thought.
Steenkamp, 29, a model whose face graced the covers of glossy magazines, had only been dating him for a few months. On Twitter she had written of her excitement about Valentine's Day. "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???" she tweeted. "… It should be a day of love for everyone
may it be blessed!"
Last week she told South Africa's Sunday Times her boyfriend was "an impeccable man who always has her best interests at heart".
Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic star and inspiration to millions around the world, was contemplating his future from a police cell on Thursday night after being charged with murdering his girlfriend.
In a drama that stunned South Africa and admirers abroad, Pistorius allegedly fired four bullets into Reeva Steenkamp's head, chest and arm at his home in the capital, Pretoria, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The life of the glamorous athlete, known as the Blade Runner for his hi-tech artificial legs, has been one of world sport's defining narratives of triumph over adversity, culminating in his appearance at the both the Olympics and Paralympics in London last year.
Yet as the 26-year-old prepared to answer a murder charge and apply for bail at Pretoria magistrates court on Friday morning, a picture emerged of a man with a playboy lifestyle, an intense interest in guns and a taste for living dangerously, suggesting that the world did not know Pistorius as well as it thought.
Steenkamp, 29, a model whose face graced the covers of glossy magazines, had only been dating him for a few months. On Twitter she had written of her excitement about Valentine's Day. "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???" she tweeted. "… It should be a day of love for everyone
may it be blessed!"Last week she told South Africa's Sunday Times her boyfriend was "an impeccable man who always has her best interests at heart".
