New reports claimed today that Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius “carried his dying girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp downstairs and tried to resuscitate her as he desperately attempted to save her life”.

Oscar Pistorius, 26, allegedly cradled Reeva Steenkamp, who he allegedly shot four times, as he tried to stop her dying, performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the 29-year-old.

It was reported that Reeva Steenkamp was still breathing when paramedics and security guards rushed to the house.

But paramedics were unable to revive the model and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sources told Beeld, the Afrikaans language newspaper, that security guards heard the shots and rushed to the house, where they saw Oscar Pistorius running down the stairs with the law graduate in his arms.
Oscar Pistorius is said to be on suicide watch due to fears the blade runner might take his own life over charges for the “pre-planned” murder of Reeva Steenkamp, it emerged last night.

The athlete, who wept in the dock yesterday after being charged with shooting dead law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day, is being held at Brooklyn Police Station prison in Pretoria.

A source said: “Oscar is innocent but he feels as though he has descended into hell. He is absolutely devastated and struggling to deal with his emotions.”

The source told The Sun: “He’s been given a cell to himself at the police station but there are criminals in cells around him and he doesn’t belong there. There are police concerns over his mental state.”

At his hearing earlier yesterday Oscar Pistorius remained silent during the 40 minute hearing but his family and management issued a joint statement insisting: “The alleged murder is disputed in the strongest possible terms.”

It was reported yesterday that Reeva Steenkamp had been hit four times by bullets fired through the door of a bathroom at the luxury complex on the outskirts of Pretoria where Pistorius, a keen marksman, kept a pistol and machine gun.

Reeva Steenkamp, who had only been going out with Oscar Pistorius since November, is said to have been hit in the head, chest, pelvis and hand.

Beeld newspaper said: “The security guards found Pistorius by Steenkamp’s body in the bathroom,” and quoted a neighbour as saying: “The door had bullet holes right through it.”

A 9mm pistol said to have been owned by Oscar Pistorius was seen in a plastic exhibits bag being carried by police officers investigating the killing which has shocked the world.

Oscar Pistorius carried his dying girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp downstairs and tried to resuscitate her as he desperately attempted to save her life

There were gasps from some of the 100 people crowded into Courtroom C of the Magistrates Court as Oscar Pistorius stood with head bowed in front of Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair to the hear the murder charge read out, then started weeping, covering his face with his hands.

“Take it easy,” Desmond Nair told him.

“Come take a seat.”

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the Pretoria court they would argue the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp, a former TV presenter, in the early hours of Thursday was premeditated.

They will tell the court that neighbors heard screaming and shouting from the mansion on the high security Silver Lakes Estate – there had been no robberies there for the past five years – followed by a shot.

Mention of the word “pre-meditated” caused Oscar Pistorius to slump forward and he could be seen to be breathing heavily through his hands.

Lawyers for Oscar Pistorius, who in London last year became the first athlete to compete at both an Olympic and Paralympic Games, are said to be preparing to argue the shooting was a tragic accident.

If found guilty of premeditated murder, Oscar Pistorius faces an automatic life sentence. He would not be eligible to be considered for parole until he is aged 51.

Police have dismissed initial claims that Oscar Pistorius had mistakenly shot his girlfriend believing she was an intruder.

Oscar Pistorius, who was dressed in a grey suit and blue tie, had been expected to apply for bail, but this has been postponed until Tuesday after the defence and prosecution agreed to allow more time for this to be heard.

He will be held in custody at Brooklyn Prison in Pretoria, next door to the firearms registration centre, until then.

Oscar Pistorius said nothing during the 40-minute hearing. His father, Henke, sister Aimee and brother, Carl, sat directly behind him in the packed court-room, occasionally leaning forward to give him a supportive pat on the shoulder.

As the athlete began to weep, Carl Pistorius lent forward and laid a hand on his brother, squeezing him slightly.

His family later issued a staunch denial of the allegation.

They said: “Firstly, and most importantly, all our thoughts today must be with the family and friends of Reeva Steenkamp.

“Oscar Pistorius has made history as an Olympic and Paralympic sportsman and has been an inspiration to others the world over.

“He has made it very clear that he would like to send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva.

“He would also like to express his thanks through us for all the messages of support he has received – but as stated our thoughts and prayers today should be for Reeva and her family, regardless of the circumstances of this terrible, terrible tragedy.”

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Oscar Pistorius is appearing in court to face a murder charge after his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, was shot at his mansion near Pretoria.

South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius held his head in his hands and was in tears as the murder charge was formally read out in the magistrates’ court.

A decision will be taken on whether the athlete should be granted bail.

Prosecutors will argue that Oscar Pistorius should remain in custody.

Dozens of photographers are in the courtroom in Pretoria, where chief magistrate Desmond Nair is hearing the bail application.

The defendant cut a lonely figure, with his head forward and breathing heavily through tears.

It is likely that some details of both the case against the 26-year-old, and his defence, will be revealed.

Television cameras have been allowed in court for the hearing and media access is now being discussed. Members of Oscar Pistorius’s family, including his sister and father, are in the courtroom.

Oscar Pistorius has undergone medical and DNA tests. His lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, earlier said that his client was “very well, obviously emotional, but fine”.

The defence is expected to argue that Oscar Pistorius is not a flight risk and should be given bail.

Forensic experts are expected to continue examining the house in the upmarket Silver Woods gated community on the outskirts of South Africa’s administrative capital where Reeva Steenkamp, 29, died.

Correspondents say the athlete’s arrest has stunned the country where Oscar Pistorius is considered a national hero.

Oscar Pistorius is appearing in court to face a murder charge after his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, was shot at his mansion near Pretoria

Oscar Pistorius made history in London last year when he became the first double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

He 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.

Police were called to Oscar Pistorius’ home in the early hours of Thursday morning.

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.

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp had reportedly been dating since November.

The athelete dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games, but in 2008 he won a legal battle over his blades – which critics said gave him an unfair advantage – with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.

Oscar Pistorius reached the 400m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200m, gold in the 4×100 relay and gold in the T44 400m, setting a Paralympic record.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.

But gun ownership is strictly regulated and it is not easy to obtain a licence.

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Athlete Oscar Pistorius, the world’s most famous Paralympian and the first to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, has a notoriously complex love life.

Prior to their split late last year, Oscar Pistorius spent a year and a half dating Cape Town marketing student Samantha Taylor.

But even while he was with Samantha Taylor, he was linked with numerous other women, including Russian model Anastassia Khozissova.

Oscar Pistorius was first seen with Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony in South Africa last November. At the time, the FHM model said the pair were “just friends”.

When it became clear that Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp were in fact dating, the sportsman’s then ex-Samantha Taylor said: “Oscar has such a way with women. She’s probably not the only one he’s got.”

Samatha Taylor went on to tell South Africa’s City Press newspaper that “Oscar is certainly not what people think he is”.

Oscar Pistorius has a history of risk taking and violence.

In November last year, Oscar Pistorius reportedly “threatened to break the legs” of the friend of a man whom he believed had slept with his then girlfriend, who is not Reeva Steenkamp.

According to newspaper reports, Oscar Pistorius approached South African football player Marc Batchelor in the VIP room of a horse racing track and verbally threatened him.

In 2009, Oscar Pistorius spent a night in police cells after a woman complained to police that he had assaulted her during a party at his house.

The incident allegedly occurred at the same Silver Woods home as where Reeva Steenkamp died.

Although Oscar Pistorius was charged with assault, he was eventually released with a warning.

At the time, police spokeswoman Sergeant Marinda Stoltz said the victim, whom Oscar Pistorius had told to leave, banged and kicked his front door.

“He [Oscar Pistorius] told the girl <<this is my house and my friends and you have to leave>>. He then started closing the door when a wooden beam weighing about 1,5kg fell on her leg and injured her.”

Marinda Stoltz said the girl reported the incident hours later.

“The girl then also admitted that she had been drinking,” she said.

Oscar Pistorius’ determination to succeed also seems to be accompanied by a taste for danger.

He has a large collection of sports cars and motorbikes and he routinely sleeps with a pistol next to his bed and a machine gun by a window.

In an interview in the New York Times entitled The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius, he invited the reporter to a gun range where he taught him how to shoot.

The reporter said: “He [Oscar Pistorius] fetched his 9-millimeter handgun and two boxes of ammunition. We drove to a nearby firing range, where he instructed me on proper technique.

“Pistorius was a good coach. A couple of my shots got close to the bull’s-eye, which delighted him. <<Maybe you should do this more>>, he said. <<If you practiced, I think you could be pretty deadly>>. I asked him how often he came to the range. <<Just sometimes when I can’t sleep>>.”

In 2008, Oscar Pistorius broke two ribs and had 172 stitches in his face when he crashed a boat into a submerged pier on a river south of Johannesburg.

In an interview published last year the sportsman admitted that his got the large tattoo – a quote from Corinthians – on his shoulder on a whim.

“I went into an all-night tattoo parlour,” he told the New York Times Magazine.

“Some Puerto Rican guy did it. It took from 2 a.m. to about 8:30.

“I think he was falling asleep after a while, which is why it’s a little squiggly at the bottom.”

In the magazine feature, the author concluded that Oscar Pistorius “is more than a little crazy”.

Oscar Pistorius, the world’s most famous Paralympian and the first to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, has a notoriously complex love life

Oscar Pistorius was born 26 years ago into a prominent family in Pretoria without fibulas, the outer of the bones that run between the knee and the ankle.

His parents, Sheila and Henke Pistorius, grappled with information, complied with doctors’ advice, and at 11 months his legs were amputated below the knee.

“It was a hugely emotional decision,” said Dr. Gerry Versfeld, the orthopaedic surgeon who performed the operation.

“It is easier now to convince somebody the right way to go is amputation because Oscar Pistorius is an icon you can point to and say, <<Look, this is possible>>.”

Much of his success is attributed to the fact he was always treated as a “normal little boy”.

By the time he arrived at Constantina Kloof Primary School aged five, Oscar Pistorius had been walking on his rigid glass fibre prosthetic legs for almost four years. Usually he ran.

One of Oscar Pistorius’s first memories is hurtling down a hill on a go-kart with his brother, Carl, who then decided to use one of Oscar’s prostheses as an impromptu brake to stop them crashing.

“My brother was like my hero when I was growing up,” said Oscar Pistorius.

“He’s a year and a bit older. We’re still very close. We stayed on a plot that was near an informal settlement, like a township, and we used to go and play football with the kids there and we used to have so much fun.

“We would build tree houses in the holiday and we had motorbikes on a track in our garden. It’s nice to have someone who pushes you to do things. You’re always trying to compete with him.”

Oscar Pistorius was in high school when he showed up at Jannie Brooks’s garage gym in Pretoria, South Africa, with a group of friends looking to get fitter.

He boxed, skipped and did press-ups until he threw up. It was six months before Jannie Brooks realized he had no legs.

“He was just one of the bunch, doing everything at the same pace as everybody else,” he said.

“Between the classroom and the fields there were two sets of stairs,” said Tessa Shellard, who taught Oscar Pistorius maths and PE.

“I used to cringe because he would always run down. I closed my eyes waiting for him to fall. But he never did.

“His legs would chafe and give him enormous blisters on his stumps but he did rugby, cricket, football and absolutely everything else.

“He wasn’t quick at all because of his heavy legs but in inter-house athletics, Oscar would do the sprints every year knowing full well he would come last.”

His can-do attitude made him popular with classmates. During annual triathlons, one friend would carry him on his back while carrying his legs. When it came to the swimming, he threw his legs on to the side of the pool and dived straight in. At cycling, Oscar Pistorius would do 20 km stretches as a 12-year-old without complaint.

Hugh Herr, director of the Biomechatronics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a close friend of Oscar Pistorius, said his quick cycling is because his hips are a “huge engine”. This also allows him to reposition his limbs quicker and complete the 400 m, his favored event, in a personal best of 45.07sec, a time never thought possible for an amputee.

At 13, Oscar Pistorius began boarding at Pretoria Boys School.

“During the admissions interview I had concerns about how a legless boy would fare with the rough and tumble of a school of 1500 teenagers,” said Bill Shroeder, headteacher of the school until 2009.

“All his mother could say was, <<Of course he’ll cope>>. That was how she brought him up – to be completely normal.”

Oscar Pistorius went down in school folklore when, during a rugby match, a player from the opposite team tackled him.

“His legs came off in the boy’s arms,” said Bill Shroeder.

“But he carried on running over the line, I think the other kid still has nightmares.”

Oscar Pistorius threw himself into sport following his mother’s death when he was 15, but suffered a knee injury playing rugby in 2003. He did athletics as a form of rehab at the University of Pretoria.

Less than a year later, Oscar Pistorius lit up the Athens Paralympics aged 17, winning gold in the 200 m and bronze in the 100 m in the T44 class, which also includes single below-the-knee amputees.

“Within months he was an icon,” said Bill Shroeder.

“My biggest challenge was keeping a teenager who was the envy of every kid on the straight and narrow.”

He was expected to take home a haul of paralympic golds at London 2012 but failed to deliver.

His first final was in the 200 m, where he finished a shock second to Brazilian Alan Oliveira and accused rivals in an angry outburst, including his young conqueror, of running on blades that were too long.

Then Oscar Pistorius had to settle for fourth place in the 100 m individual event when the glory went to Britain’s new track icon, Jonnie Peacock.

But this defeat and the outburst were followed by a measure of redemption when Oscar Pistorius anchored his country’s 4 x 100 m relay gold in a world record time.

Books and memorabilia of heroes from Nelson Mandela to Iron Mike Tyson, from Sir Bobby Charlton to Valentino Rossi, now fill the shelves and walls of his Pretoria home, a sprawling mansion on the Silverwoods Golf Estate, where he allegedly shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at 4:00 a.m. this morning.

Oscar Pistorius allegedly shot her four times in the head, chest and arms with a 9 mm handgun.

Local media have claimed Oscar Pistorius did so either by accident in a Valentine’s Day surprise gone wrong or having mistaken Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.

Neither claim has been confirmed.

Oscar Pistorius’ father Henke, meanwhile said: “If anyone makes a statement, it will have to be Oscar. He’s sad at the moment.”

His publicist, Peet van Zyl, said: “Oscar is a humble person and lovely guy – am sure what’s happened was terrible mistake.”

Oscar Pistorius’ sporting trophies, including the first award he won as a 12-year-old wrestler and that famous TV camera that marks him out as a recipient of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award for remarkable courage in the face of adversity, take up the space next to the whisky cabinet and pictures of his racehorses.

The sportsman, once voted South Africa’s sexiest celebrity now earns more than $1.5 million a year in deals to promote everything from perfume to groceries and telecommunications.

If Oscar Pistorius is charged and convicted with murder, he is unlikely to serve life in prison as the country’s full term imprisonment rule only kicks in for premeditated murder.

But there is also a chance he may escape punishment.

In 2004 charges against a South African rugby player who shot and killed his daughter were dropped when the country’s prosecuting agency decided he had suffered enough.

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Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, had her promising young life cut tragically short today after she was allegedly shot dead by the Paralympian at his mansion.

Reeva Steenkamp, 29, was about to embark on the next stage of her dynamic and varied career as a TV star when she was killed in what may have been a Valentine’s Day surprise that went horribly wrong.

She was shot in the head, the chest and the arm at around 4:00 a.m. this morning, South African police have said.

Oscar Pistorius, who reportedly may have mistaken her for a burglar, will appear in court charged with her murder later this morning.

Reeva Steenkamp’s publicist, Sarit Tomlinson, said the couple had been together for a “couple of months” in what had been a “healthy, fabulous relationship”.

Sarit Tomlinson told Sky News: “She was the sweetest human being and an absolute angel on earth. She was the kindest, most unbelievable girl.

“At the moment it’s shocking. No-one knows what’s happened. She was a rising star. There was so much in the pipeline for her: she was just about to explode into the media.

“She was a very talented, very bright young girl. It’s too shocking for words. It is a huge loss for everyone and our condolences go out to her family. It is about them right now.”

Just yesterday, Reeva Steenkamp spoke excitedly on Twitter about her plans for Valentine’s Day.

She said: “What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay.”

Replying to a follower, Reeva Steenkamp later added: “That sounds amazing! Wow that’s what it’s all about! It should be a day of love for everyone 🙂 may it be blessed!”

Just last Sunday Reeva Steenkamp was quoted in a local newspaper as saying that Oscar Pistorius was “an impeccable man who always has her best interests at heart”.

And on February 1, Reeva Steenkamp tweeted to Oscar Pistorius telling him he was “beautiful”.

She wrote: “He certainly doesn’t need more followers but he’s beautiful to look at & says some smart stuff too ;)”

This weekend, Reeva Steenkamp was set to star in South African reality television series Tropika Island Of Treasure, in which celebrities and ordinary people compete in remote, exotic locations in a variety of daily challenges.

On the show’s website, a tribute to Reeva Steenkamp says: “We are deeply saddened and extend our condolences to Reeva’s family and friends.”

Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, had her promising young life cut tragically short today after she was allegedly shot dead by the Paralympian at his mansion

Reeva Steenkamp was born in Cape Town on August 19, 1983, and moved to Port Elizabeth as a child.

She graduated with a law degree, but made a dynamic career change after being scouted and named the first face of cosmetics giant Avon South Africa.

Reeva Steenkamp moved to Johannesburg six years ago and since then has travelled between the city and Cape Town to film and shoot some of South Africa’s leading campaigns and commercials.

Toyota, FHM, Clover and Italian brand Zui are some of the more prestigious clients she has worked for.

With a background in TV presenting – she was once the live roaming presenter for FashionTV in South Africa – Reeva Steenkamp had recently been working on some major projects that include smaller TV roles as well as a lead in a new reality TV show.

According to her Facebook page, Reeva Steenkamp had a passion for cars and cooking and prefers to read a book on her off days and spend quality time with friends and family.

She described herself on Twitter as “SA Model, FHM Cover Girl, Tropika Island of Treasure Celeb Contestant, Law Graduate, Ambassador, Child of God”.

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp were first spotted at the South African Sports Awards last year.

At the time, she claimed she and Oscar Pistorius were just friends.

The Johannesburg-born sportsman was born without fibulas in his legs and had his limbs amputated below the knee when he was just 11 months old.

But he has become one of the worlds’ most recognizable sportsmen. His trademark carbon-fibre running blades mean he revels in the moniker “the fastest man on no legs”.

Oscar Pistorius is first double amputee to run in the Olympics and to reach the 400 semi-finals in London 2012.

Perhaps due in part to his sudden financial and sporting success, Oscar Pistorius has a notoriously complex love life.

Before he got together with Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius had spent a year-and-a-half dating Cape Town marketing student Samantha Taylor.

But even while he was with Samantha Taylor, he was linked with numerous other women, including Russian model Anastassia Khozissova.

Oscar Pistorius was first seen with Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony in South Africa last November. At the time, the FHM model said the pair were “just friends’.

But when it became clear that Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp were in fact dating, the sportsman’s then ex Samantha Taylor said: “Oscar has such a way with women. She’s probably not the only one he’s got.”

Samantha Taylor went on to tell South Africa’s City Press newspaper: “Oscar is certainly not what people think he is.”

Oscar Pistorius, 26, has a history of risk taking and also, reportedly, of violence.

In November last year, the sportsman reportedly “threatened to break the legs” of the friend of a man whom he believed had slept with his then girlfriend, who is not Reeva Steenkamp.

According to newspaper reports, Oscar Pistorius approached South African football player Marc Batchelor in the VIP room of a horse racing track and verbally threatened him.

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