Oscar Pistorius’s lawyers are trying to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with the parents of his dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, The Times reported on Tuesday.
Pistorius’s lawyer Kenny Oldwage confirmed that they were in discussions with the Steenkamp family.
“You will understand this is a very sensitive situation,” he was quoted as saying.
Steenkamp and her half-brother Adam reportedly helped their pensioner parents Barry and June financially, including with the rent on their home.
Her parents have lodged a multimullion-rand civil claim against Pistorius for loss of income and emotional distress.
Pistorius’s lawyers want to settle the lawsuit before the outcome of the criminal trial.
Advocate Petrus “Dup” de Bruyn, for the Steenkamps, said “nothing has been decided on yet”.
Steenkamp’s mother, June, declined to comment on the civil suit.
“This is just too much… we are grieving… missing our baby… our beautiful, beautiful daughter who should have been celebrating her birthday today [Monday],” June Steenkamp said.
Pistorius appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday for shooting Steenkamp on February 14 in his Pretoria home. His trial for alleged murder was set for March 3 2014. – Sapa
The police’s explosives teams carried out a precautionary sweep to check for explosives inside the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court room where paralympian Oscar Pistorius would appear on Monday.
Reporters were asked to temporarily leave the court where earlier, video cameras were being set up.
Security had assisted media with more chairs.
Pistorius’s brother Carl Pistorius was seen carrying the access tags that would allow his family inside.
It would have been Pistorius’s girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp’s 30th birthday on Monday.
Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder after the model and law graduate was shot dead in his Pretoria home on February 14.
The State was expected to serve the double amputee with an indictment, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Friday.
“We also expect to have the trial starting early 2014, but we cannot at this stage confirm the exact date because this has to be agreed upon in court by all parties concerned,” spokesman Medupe Simasiku said at the time.
During a subsequent bail hearing, Pistorius’s defence read out a statement in which Pistorius said he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.
He has been out on R1 million bail since February 22, with some of the conditions amended since then.
On June 4, prosecutor Andrea Johnson said in court that no details of the investigation would be revealed. She said the State needed more time to investigate the crime.
This was by agreement with Pistorius’s defence.
Johnson said the attention generated by Steenkamp’s death was not something the prosecution or the State could control, and felt his rights should not be overridden and that he had the right to be treated like any other person.
Last Tuesday, police confirmed that the investigation into Steenkamp’s death had been completed and that the matter would be postponed.
National police spokesman Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale said the investigating team was convinced that Pistorius had a charge to answer to.
The court session was expected to start at 9am. – Sapa
South African double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius will return to court Monday, when he is expected to be indicted for murdering lover Reeva Steenkamp and receive a date for trial.
The 26-year-old sprinter will appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court six months after shooting dead girlfriend Steenkamp in the toilet of his upscale home.
The platinum blonde cover girl and law graduate died on Valentine’s Day after being shot in the head, elbow and hip.
She would have turned 30 on Monday, when prosecutors are expected to unveil a five-page indictment against Pistorius for premeditated murder, according to sources close to the investigation.
The hearing is expected to be brief, and according to Pistorius family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess the “chances are very high that a trial date will be set.”
Pistorius, who is out on bail and faces a life sentence if found guilty, has denied murder, saying he shot Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.
The trial is not expected to start until 2014, given the backlog in South Africa’s regional high courts.
A single senior judge will hear the case. South Africa does not have a jury system.
The indictment could detail key aspects of the police investigation into Steenkamp’s death that came under scrutiny during a lengthy bail hearing.
These may include ballistics information from the bathroom door suggesting Pistorius’s height at the time of the shooting.
Prosecutors assert he donned his two prosthetic legs before firing four shots through the bathroom door, a delay they say proves the murder was premeditated.
The athlete, who was born without calf bones and had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old, claims he was on his stumps.
The indictment could also shed light on phone records from four cell phones found outside the room where Steenkamp had locked herself in.
Investigators had to contact mobile manufacturer Apple in the United States as well as Interpol to access one of the phones, Pistorius’s iPhone 5.
The athlete apparently could not remember the four-digit pass code to unlock the phone, according to media reports.
South Africa’s much-maligned police force is under immense pressure to help secure a conviction, after the bail hearing showed up shoddy police work that led to the whole investigation team being replaced.
Police failed to find all the bullets fired, potentially contaminated the crime scene and misjudged the distance to the spot from which a witness claimed to have heard shouting earlier in the night.
Pistorius, who runs on two fibre-glass prosthetic legs, catapulted to fame as the first double-amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes at last year’s London Olympics.
But since the February shooting his reckless past of fast cars, beautiful women and fascination with guns has emerged.
He was released on bail of one million rand ($101,000, 76,000 euros) a week after killing Steenkamp.
After withdrawing from international athletic events, Pistorius restarted light training for “mental and emotional equilibrium”, his family said in June.
After an initial silence, Steenkamp’s parents lashed out at him, speaking of quarrels their daughter had with the athlete in their five-month relationship.
He broke down several times in court during the February bail hearing and family members have spoken openly about his trauma.
The killing sent shock waves around the world and halted his stellar career, ending lucrative endorsement deals with US sportswear giant Nike and French cosmetic firm Clarins.
Pistorius also reportedly was fined one million rand for undeclared taxes.
In the months following his release the sprinter has kept a low profile.
But he has been spotted in public a few times, most recently while kayaking last Sunday in harbour town Hermanus east of Cape Town.
“He had to get out of this jail,” his uncle Arnold Pistorius told Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper, referring to the athlete’s seclusion. – Sapa-AFP
The sale of paralympian Oscar Pistorius’ biography has not done well after he was arrested and charged for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Enquiries by The Star at bookshops in Gauteng indicated that while newspapers publishing articles on Pistorius were flying off the shelves, the attention on him failed to have an effect on the sale of his book, which was released in August.
The newspaper reported that one response was that it should be “chucked into the bin next to Lance Armstrong”.
Kalahari.net has been advertising the book at a discounted price on sites that are running articles on the Pistorius court case.
A sales assistant at Exclusive Books at OR Tambo International Airport said the book was a hit last year after the Paralympic Games, but that it had not been selling well lately.
A manager at a Books Galore branch, identifying herself as Ashley, said people had not shown an interest in buying it.
At Exclusive Books in Brooklyn Mall, Pretoria, the response was similar. Christo Kellermann said: “Maybe people are waiting until this is over before they buy it.”
Another bookstore manager, who did not want to be named, said there been “no explosion in the sales of the book or a rush of customers placing orders for it.”
The newspaper also reported that the publishers of Sarie and GQ magazines — whose covers featured Pistorius — had ordered that their magazines be taken off the shelves the day after Steenkamp was shot dead. – Sapa
A Nike advertisement with the phrase “I Am The Bullet In The Chamber” has been taken down from Oscar Pistorius’ websiteafter he was charged with murdering his girlfriend.
The advertisement shows the South African double-amputee Olympian in an action shot coming out of the starting blocks.
It was taken down after Pistorius was arrested in the death of 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp at his South African home.
“This is a very unfortunate story and it is still under investigation,” Seruscka Naidoo, Nike South Africa spokesperson, told The Sun. “We’ll not make any decision until we hear from Oscar or his agent.”
South African authorities tell The Associated Press that there has been a recent history of problems with the Olympian and Paralympian known as “Blade Runner.”
“I’m not going to elaborate on it but there have been incidents (at Pistorius’ home),” police spokeswoman Brigadier Denis Beukes said, adding that Pistorius is the only suspect.
A 9mm pistol was recovered at the scene. – CBS
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