The world’s media camped outside Brooklyn police station in what would have been the athlete’s first public appearance since being released on bail on Friday.
Confusion is already surrounding Oscar Pistorius’ bail conditions amid reports he had to present himself today at Brooklyn police station.
Officials at Pretoria Magistrates’ Court said Pistorius was expected to attend the police station by 1pm (11am UK time), but Eyewitness News said it had been told by a National Prosecuting Authority official that his attendance was not a requirement of bail.
Pistorius’ bail was set at one million rand (£73,822) including 100,000 RND (7,382) in cash.
Conditions of his release include that he surrenders his passports and travel documents, does not visit his house where the model died and does not use any prohibited substances. He is also banned from drinking alcohol.
His legal team declined to comment today on reports that the athlete is considering approaching the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to ease his bail conditions.
‘I can’t comment on that,’ said one of his lawyers, Brian Webber.
Pistorius, is charged with one count of premeditated murder over the February 14 killing of the FHM cover girl. He says the shooting was accidental because he thought she was a dangerous intruder inside his home.
At the weekend footage was leaked to a South African television channel of Reeva Steenkamp smiling widely before driving into Pistorius’ upscale housing complex.
The picture is taken from CCTV footage that shows the 29-year-old arriving at the luxury housing complex where Pistorius lived.
Miss Steenkamp is seen grinning as security guards let her drive her Mini Cooper into the Silver Woods estate on the outskirts of Pretoria just before 6pm.
Ten minutes later, Paralympic champion Pistorius is also shown arriving in his white BMW.
He uses a lane that is further away from the CCTV camera and it does not capture his facial expression.
The 30 seconds of footage was broadcast on South African television last night.
According to police, soon after the recording was taken the couple started arguing so loudly that his neighbours heard them ‘shouting and screaming’.
Pistorius, 26, claims he mistook her for an intruder.
The television channel also broadcast a brief interview with Miss Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, from their home in Port Elizabeth.
In it, Mr Steenkamp said: ‘It’s only Oscar [and] Reeva that know the true story. All I want is that he must just come out with the honest truth.’
Despite Miss Steenkamp’s smiles, her ex-flatmate revealed that she felt so ‘caged in’ by an ‘impatient and moody’ Pistorius in the early days of their relationship that he was forced to tell him to ‘back off’.
Cyril Myers, whom Miss Steenkamp lived with in Johannesburg, told South Africa’s City press that Pistorius at first seemed polite but then began to start putting pressure on Reeva.
He claimed it got to the point where Mr Myers had to intervene. He recalled their first date, shortly after she broke up with her former boyfriend.
‘She went with Oscar to a sports-awards evening. And after that he wouldn’t leave her alone. He kept pestering her, phoning and phoning and phoning her.
‘Oscar was hasty and impatient and very moody that’s my impression of him. She told me he pushed her a bit into a corner. She felt caged in. I told her I would talk to him.
‘I told him not to force himself on her. Back off. He agreed, but his face showed me what he was thinking: “Oh, this guy is talking nonsense.” He did cool down a bit.
‘Then they started going out steadily, and she was more at his home. I once talked to her about Oscar’s moodiness. She didn’t answer me.’
Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.
A text from Miss Steenkamp to Mr Myers on the night she was shot revealed that she did not intend to stay the night but changed her mind because she did not want to drive home as it was late.
The athlete denies murder, saying he killed her accidentally. He said he opened fire after mistaking Miss Steemkamp for an intruder in his home.
Meanwhile the brother of Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius is facing charges over the death of a woman in a car crash in 2010, it emerged today.
Carl Pistorius, who was present in court over the past week to support Oscar, is charged with culpable homicide over the alleged accidental death of a female motorcyclist.
He appeared in court just two days before his brother’s bail hearing last week and was represented by the same lawyer as his brother, the highly-respected advocate Kenny Oldwage.
The crash allegedly happened in Vanderbijlpark in South Africa’s Gauteng province, an hour’s drive south of Johannesburg.
It also emerged today that police told Reeva’s family that Oscar Pistorius crushed his girlfriend’s skull with a cricket bat before shooting her dead.
Carl was initially accused of reckless or negligent driving, but the matter was later provisionally withdrawn.
However, the charges were reinstated after the victim’s family said they believed it was more than an accident, Eye Witness News reported.
It is claimed police conducted tests on Carl Pistorius’ blood at the time of the accident, and he was found not to have been drinking alcohol.
Read also :
http://en.africatopsports.com/2013/02/24/south-africa-carl-pistorius-to-stand-trial-over-homicide/
http://en.africatopsports.com/2013/02/23/oscar-pistorius-says-thank-you/