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Bail hearing of Pistorius continues

Xinhua, February 20, 2013

• "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius awaits the start of court proceedings in the Pretoria Magistrates court, Feb 19, 2013. [China Daily via agencies]

  The bail hearing of murder-accused Paralympian Oscar Pistorius resumed at the Pretoria Magistrate Court on Wednesday with a large media contingent scrambling to get inside.

  Accompanied by police, a somber-looking Pistorius entered the building through the front entrance, with a blue towel covering his head.

  Pistorius has been kept at the Brooklyn police station since he was arrested last Thursday for allegedly murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria home.

  As the order to keep him at the police station expires on Wednesday, the next place where he will be kept remains unknown.

  His lawyers would ask the court to continue keeping him at police holding cells instead of prison.

  At Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors said investigators have found no evidence to support Pistorius's version that he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar.

  It was a premeditated murder for which bail is granted under exceptional circumstances, State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

  In his affidavit, Pistorius denied the murder allegation "in the strongest terms".

  "I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder, as I had no intention to kill my girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp."

  "We were deeply in love and I could not be happier. I know she felt the same way," the affidavit says.

  "She had given me a present for Valentine's Day, but asked me only to open it the next day."

  "I am acutely aware of violent crime being committed by intruders entering homes with a view to commit crime, including violent crime. I have received death threats before. I have also been a victim of violence and of burglary before," he said in the affidavit.

  "For that reason, I kept my firearm, a 9mm Parabellum, underneath my bed when I went to bed at night.

  "During the early hours of 14 February 2013, I woke up, went onto the balcony to bring the fan in and close the sliding door, the blinds and the curtains.

  "I heard a noise in the bathroom and realized that someone was in the bathroom. I felt a sense of terror rushing over me.

  Pistorius said he grabbed his 9mm pistol from underneath the bed.

  On his way to the bathroom, he screamed words to the effect for him/them to get out of his house and for Reeva to phone the police.

  "I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police," he said.

  "I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva."

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