Olympian faces murder rap
The double-amputee Olympian, Oscar Pistorius, was indicted on Monday on charges of murder of his girlfriend on Valentine's Day.
A Pretoria court has set March 3 as the trial date for Pistorius, who claims he shot Reeva Steenkamp by mistake, believing she was an intruder in his home. Prosecutors, who allege he killed her after an argument, submitted a list of more than 100 witnesses for a trial that will be followed around the world.
Pistorius, 26, appeared in court for the indictment, and was seen crying and holding hands with his siblings before proceedings started. Steenkamp would have celebrated her 30th birthday on Monday.
The indictment served on Pistorius means the case will be sent to the High Court in Pretoria, the South African capital, where a judge will preside over the trial and ul- timately pronounce the athlete innocent or guilty. South Africa does not have trial by jury.
The mandatory sentence for someone convicted of premeditated murder is life with a minimum of 25 years in prison, meaning if Pistorius is found guilty, he will be older than 50, at least, when he leaves prison. There is no death penalty in South Africa.
The most telling evidence may lie in records of cell phones found at Pistorius' home and the toilet cubicle door through which Pistorius shot four bullets, hitting Steenkamp three times and killing her. The angle or trajectory of the bullets could show if Pistorius was standing on his stumps when he shot, as he says, or if he
was on his artificial legs, as the prosecution maintains. The prosecution has alleged that Steenkamp locked herself in the toilet cubicle next to the main bedroom at Pistorius' house in the early hours of February 14. It claims the athlete armed himself with his 9mm pistol and fired four shots through the locked door. The prosecution will present witnesses, some of whom allegedly heard a woman scream, followed by 'moments of silence, then heard gunshots and then more screaming', the indictment says. It is the prosecution case that even if he thought she was an intruder, an 'error in persona' did not affect the fact he intended to kill someone.