Oscar Pistorius charged with murder

Police reveal there had been previous incidents at the address

THE FIRST ever double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympic Games is getting charged with murder.

Oscar Pistorius, 26, is facing a murder charge after his girlfriend was shot and killed at his Pretoria home.

There were rumours in the local media that perhaps this had been a Valentines Day surprise gone wrong. It was suggested that Pistorius thought his girlfriend was an intruder trying to break-in. The police in South Africa were surprised to hear this and say the information did not come from them.

Pistorius' girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was said to be shot four times.

Officials in Pretoria said Pistorius was due to appear at a correctional services police court at 2pm local time but the case was later delayed until Friday.

Police were called to his home in the upmarket Silver Woods gated compound on the outskirts of South Africa's administrative capital in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The athlete is known as the "blade runner" because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he races in. He was born without a fibula in both legs and had his legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.

They found paramedics treating a 29-year-old woman with four gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. She died at the scene, and officers recovered a 9mm pistol.

Police say neighbours heard screaming and shouting around the time of the shooting, and that they had been called to investigate incidents of a domestic nature at the same house in the past.

The police also said that they would oppose any bail application.

Hours later, after being questioned by police, Mr Pistorius left a police station accompanied by officers, his face mostly covered by the hood of a grey jacket.

Steenkamp, a well-known South African model, had been dating Pistorius since November and was due to appear in a reality TV show called Tropika Island of Treasure. The law graduate from Port Elizabeth gave an interview to the Sunday Times in South Africa last week in which she described her boyfriend as "an impeccable man who always has her best interests at heart."