Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is "numb with shock, as well as grief" after the shooting death of his model girlfriend at his home in South Africa, the runner's uncle said today, as his family "strongly refutes" that he planned to kill her.
Arnold Pistorius spoke to reporters about his nephew's arrest for the killing of Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot four times on the morning of Valentine's Day, from his three-storey home in the eastern suburbs of South Africa's capital, Pretoria.
The statement, the first on camera and directly made in person by Pistorius' family, also came out strongly against prosecutors seeking to upgrade the charge against Pistorius to one of premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison.
"After consulting with legal representatives, we deeply regret the allegation of premeditated murder," Arnold Pistorius said. "We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the state's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder."
The track star's arrest for the killing of 29-year-old Steenkamp shocked South Africa, where Pistorius was a national hero dubbed the Blade Runner for...
↧