Expatica news

Oscar Pistorius: From Olympic fame to shame

South African amputee sprinting star Oscar Pistorius is due in court on Monday to face charges he deliberately shot dead his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day.

Here is a snapshot of the events that started on that fateful day:

February 14: South African police arrest Pistorius, an Olympic and Paralympic sprinter nicknamed the “Blade Runner”, for the murder of Steenkamp, who was shot four times with one of his guns at his house near Pretoria.

February 15: Pistorius breaks down in tears as he is charged with murder, which he denies “in the strongest terms”.

February 17: Pistorius has pulled out of races for the coming months, his manager says.

February 19: Pistorius claims in an affidavit that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder and was “filled with horrible fear” that someone had sneaked into his luxury Pretoria home through an open window.

He insists he did not intend to kill Steenkamp after being charged with shooting her repeatedly through a locked bathroom door in what prosecutors term a “premeditated” murder.

February 20: Witnesses claim to have heard arguing, a woman screaming and gunfire at Pistorius’s house the night of the slaying, police tell the court.

French cosmetics firm Clarins says it is dropping an advertising campaign featuring Pistorius.

February 21: US sportswear giant Nike suspends its contract with Pistorius.

South African police name a top detective to the case after it emerges that the officer initially assigned to it faces attempted murder charges.

February 22: Pistorius is granted bail by a magistrate pending trial. His bail is set at one million rand ($99,000, 74,000 euros) after the sprinter spent more than a week in custody and sat through a tense four-day bail hearing.

Pistorius is ordered back in court on June 4.

February 24: A substance found by police in Pistorius’s home is an herbal sexual stimulant, a South African newspaper reports.

Prosecutors had said that police found two boxes of “testosterone” and needles, but the defence said it was testocompasutium coenzyme, a legal herbal remedy.

His publicist says three days later that the substance is an herbal remedy for muscle recovery.

March 5: Pistorius’s family distances itself from his father’s claim that white South Africans must own guns because the ANC government does not protect them.

March 28: A court clears Pistorius for international travel, easing his strict bail terms.

April 14: Pistorius was spotted partying at a trendy Johannesburg hangout, media report.

April 16: South African police have seized 49 mobile phones belonging to officers that were used to photograph Pistorius soon after his arrest, the police ministry says.

April 17: Pistorius will not return to international athletics in the immediate future, his agent says after a snub from the organisers of the Anniversary Games in London.

May 20: Pistorius will not race this season, his agent says.

June 4: A court postpones Pistorius’s pre-trial hearing until August 19 to give police time to wrap up their investigation.

June 28: Pistorius is to resume limited training for his mental wellbeing, but does not plan a return to competition, his family announces.

August 13: Prosecutors say they have finalised their case against Pistorius, who is to return to court on Monday, the date Steenkamp would have turned 30.