{"id":34401,"date":"2013-02-22T11:47:45","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T09:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=34401"},"modified":"2013-02-22T11:47:45","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T09:47:45","slug":"oscar-pistorius-in-court-day-4judge-will-decide-today-olympic-hero-go-in-jail-or-release-south-africa-news-34401","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/oscar-pistorius-in-court-day-4judge-will-decide-today-olympic-hero-go-in-jail-or-release-south-africa-news-34401\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Pistorius In Court Day 4:Judge will decide today Olympic hero go in Jail or release \/ South Africa News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

A judge is today expected to decide on whether to grant bail to Oscar Pistorius, the athlete accused of shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead in South Africa.<\/h1>\n

Prosecutors have argued he is a cold-blooded killer and should be kept locked up, while his own lawyers say that he is far too famous to flee prosecution.<\/p>\n

The bail hearing, which began last Friday, resumed this morning.<\/p>\n

In a closing statement, the prosecution said Pistorius’ version of events was “improbable” and that the level of violence used was “horrific”.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel added that the athlete – who has often cried during proceedings – was feeling sorry for himself, and feared that his career was over.<\/p>\n

He also said that Pistorius had decided not to be “tested” by court questioning and chose to submit a written affidavit instead.<\/p>\n

While trying to persuade the judge that Pistorius is a flight risk, he compared the case to that of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.<\/p>\n

“His face is well-known all over the world and he’s sitting in embassy in London,” he said.<\/p>\n

He also suggested that Pistorius could also consider changing his facial appearance to avoid being recognised.<\/p>\n

Earlier, his coach Ampie Louw said that if the athlete is granted bail, he will start training again next week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Thursday, police were forced to pull their lead detective off the athlete’s case after it emerged he himself faces attempted murder charges for shooting at a minibus.<\/p>\n

Defence lawyers for Pistorius say the athlete shot dead his girlfriend by a terrible mistake, and deserves bail to prepare for his case.<\/p>\n

They say the case has been marred by a bungled police investigation.<\/p>\n

The ‘blade runner’, whose lower legs were amputated in infancy, is said to have killed model Reeva Steenkamp, 29, in the early hours of St Valentine’s Day at his home.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have told the court it was a premeditated murder, with Pistorius firing four shots through a locked toilet door at Ms Steenkamp on the other side.<\/p>\n

She was hit in the head, arm and hip.<\/p>\n

Witnesses said they heard gunshots and screams from the home in a gated community surrounded by three-metre-high stone walls and an electric fence.<\/p>\n

Pistorius contends he was acting in self-defence.<\/p>\n

He says he mistook Ms Steenkamp for an intruder and felt vulnerable because he was unable to attach his prosthetic limbs in time to confront the threat.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old said he grabbed a 9-mm pistol from under his bed and went into the bathroom.<\/p>\n

Pistorius described how he fired into the locked toilet door in a blind panic in the mistaken belief that the intruder was lurking inside.<\/p>\n

Bail hearings in South Africa allow for prosecutors and defence lawyers to lay out their basic arguments, based on preliminary evidence.<\/p>\n

The arrest of Pistorius stunned millions who watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400m in the London Olympics.<\/p>\n

The impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who commanded respect from both blacks and whites, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.<\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge is today expected to decide on whether to grant bail to Oscar Pistorius, the athlete accused of shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,25,80,63,17,1,118,14],"tags":[46470,46459,46469,46463,45866,45865,46466,46462,45871,46460,46464,46168,46461,46458,46468,46465,45872,339,46467],"class_list":["post-34401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-america","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-europe","category-general","category-hot","category-world","tag-blade-runner-pistorius","tag-day-4","tag-gerrie-nel","tag-judge-will-decide-day-4","tag-olympic-hero-oscar-pistorius","tag-oscar-pistorius","tag-oscar-pistorius-accused-his-girlfriend-dead","tag-oscar-pistorius-court-judge","tag-oscar-pistorius-girlfriend","tag-oscar-pistorius-go-in-jail","tag-oscar-pistorius-grant-bail","tag-oscar-pistorius-in-court","tag-oscar-pistorius-release","tag-oscar-pistorius-shooting-reeva-steenkamp","tag-prosecutors","tag-reeva-steenkamp-dead","tag-reeva-steenkamp-oscar-pistorius","tag-south-africa","tag-the-bail-hearing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}