CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Here’s what to know about the night South African Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp more than a decade ago in a Valentine’s Day killing that jolted the world and shattered the image of a sports superstar.
Pistorius, a world-famous double-amputee sprinter who competed on carbon-fiber blades at the 2012 London Olympics, was released on parole Friday having served nearly nine years in prison for murder.
He has always maintained he shot Steenkamp in a tragic mistake in the predawn hours of Feb. 14, 2013, thinking she was a dangerous intruder in his home in the South African capital, Pretoria. Prosecutors said he killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and reality TV star, intentionally during a late-night argument and then made up the intruder story.
A judge initially accepted Pistorius’ story but South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal overturned a lesser manslaughter conviction against him after an appeal by prosecutors and found him guilty of murder.
FOUR SHOTS
Pistorius did not deny that he shot four times through a locked toilet cubicle door in his home with his licensed 9 mm pistol, hitting Steenkamp in the head, arm and hip. But the reason for Pistorius opening fire formed the central part of his dramatic 2014 murder trial, which lasted seven months and was broadcast live across the world.
He testified that he heard a noise in the bathroom in the middle of the night and believed there was an intruder in his home. He said he grabbed his gun from under the bed where he had been sleeping next to Steenkamp and went to the bathroom.
A mourner carries a program at the funeral for Reeva Steenkamp, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on Feb. 19, 2013. OscarPistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp more than a decade ago in a Valentine’s Day killing that jolted the world and shattered the image of a sports superstar. Credit: AP/Schalk van Zuydam
When he heard a noise from the cubicle, he fired through the door in what…
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