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Pistorius in compensation talks with slain girlfriend’s family

Legal teams for South African paralympic star Oscar Pistorius and his slain girlfriend’s family are discussing an out-of-court financial settlement over her murder, a lawyer said Thursday.

“Negotiations are under way,” lawyer Dup de Bruyn, who is representing the relatives of the murdered Reeva Steenkamp, told AFP.

The compensation talks do not affect Pistorius’s murder trial, which is set to start on March 3.

De Bruyn declined to give any details but local media report the 26-year-old athlete may pay as much as $272,000 (200,000 euros) after shooting dead his lover last Valentine’s Day.

The 29-year-old model and law graduate was supporting her parents financially and they have been struggling since her death.

Pistorius denies murder, saying he shot his girlfriend through a locked bathroom door in his upmarket Pretoria home because he thought she was an intruder.

Lawyers reportedly have been talking for months about a possible settlement which could preempt a civil damages case by the Steenkamps, in a legal move that would be separate from the murder trial.

Pistorius faces charges of murdering Steenkamp as well as discharging a firearm on two separate occasions before her death.

The shooting death shocked the world and brought the sprinter’s career to an abrupt halt.