Olympic star Pistorius in custody over girlfriend’s shooting

Paralympic medallist Oscar Pistorius has been arrested following the shooting of his girlfriend of three months, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in a gated community in the Boschkop area of Pretoria, South Africa.

The incident reportedly occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning (02.00-03.00 GMT) and a police report stated that a 30-year-old woman had been “fatally wounded” with injuries to her upper body and head.

Despite the efforts of paramedics who arrived prior to the police, she sadly died at the scene. Police have provided no further details about the relationship between the deceased woman and Oscar Pistorius.

Steenkamp’s publicist, Sarit Tomlinson, has confirmed that it was her who died. She said: “everyone who knew her is in tears. She was an absolute angel, the sweetest, sweetest human being, a kind human being”.

A 9mm pistol was found at the scene. The reason for the shooting remains unclear, with speculation that the athlete may have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder. Many people living in South Africa keep weapons in order to defend themselves and violent crime rates are extremely high.

Cindy Poluta, from 702 Talk Radio, said: “People do take security into their own hands here in terms of you do guard yourself”.

Regarding the place Pistorius was living, she added: “South Africans obviously are very security conscious given our high crime rate, but the estate that he would have been in would have been an exclusive estate in which he would have been guarded, in that there shouldn’t be a high level of crime within that estate.”

The news has come as a huge shock to many. Reports say that Oscar Pistorius is due to appear in court on Thursday.

The head of UK Athletics, Ed Warner, called the reports “shocking and sad”, although he made it clear little was known about the incident. He added: “Pistorius is one of the great icons of Paralympic athletics but also of able-bodied athletics too”.

Molly Kersey