Pistorius granted bail despite judge’s skepticism
‘Blade Runner’ faces strict conditions
PRETORIA, South Africa Oscar Pistorius walked out of a South African court Friday a free man — for now — after a judge agreed to release him on bail ahead of his murder trial over the shooting death of his girlfriend.
But questions continued to hound the Paralympian about what actually happened when he opened fire on Valentine’s Day inside his home and killed Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Desmond Nair, who agreed to bail of about $110,000 with harsh restrictions, expressed his own doubts about Pistorius’ story.
Those questions, highlighted at a four-day bail hearing, come from the so-called Blade Runner’s account that he felt threatened and mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired the four shots at her in his bathroom.
Pistorius said in a sworn statement to the court that he shot his girlfriend accidentally, believing she was an intruder in his house.
Yet Nair said he had serious questions about Pistorius’ account: Why didn’t he try to locate his girlfriend on fearing an intruder was in the house? Why didn’t he try to determine who was in the toilet? And why would he venture into perceived “danger” — the bathroom area — when he could have taken other steps to ensure his safety?
Prosecutors say he intended to kill Steenkamp, saying the shooting followed a loud argument between the two.
Yet despite poking holes in Pistorius’ statement, their case unravelled through testimony by the police’s lead investigator, Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha.
Botha, who faces seven charges of attempted murder in an unrelated incident, was removed from the case Thursday. While Nair levelled harsh criticism at Botha for “errors” and “blunders,” he said one man does not represent an investigation and that the state could not be expected to put all “the pieces of the puzzle” together in such a short time.