South African police believe Pistorius may have beaten his girlfriend with a cricket bat before shooting her.
At the weekend it emerged that detectives are reported to have recovered a bloodied bat from the Paralympic champion’s bedroom and to have established that model Reeva Steenkamp’s skull had been ‘crushed’.
This and other evidence – a smashed bathroom door, a 9mm pistol, the peculiar pattern of wounds on the body and reports of a row earlier in the evening – is said to have led them to believe the murder case against the sprinter is ‘rock solid’.
Police are investigating if Pistorius may have shot Miss Steenkamp in a fit of so-called ‘steroid rage’ – an explosion of aggression caused by performance-boosting steroids.
‘Steroid drugs were found at Pistorius’s home together with evidence of heavy drinking. That’s why police have specifically ordered that he be tested for steroids,’ a source told The Sun.
The South African Police Service refused to respond to the claim, but sources close to the investigation had previously told a local paper that the steroid rage was one line of enquiry and that the star’s blood was being tested for drugs.
City Press, a South African news website, published a colour graphic of what it believes unfolded at Pistorius’s home.
It shows a female silhouette throwing her hands in the air as she loses her balance while a male character, purported to be Pistorius, points a gun at her.
It also apparently depicts a blood-spattered cricket bat at the foot of the bed and shows bullet holes through a bathroom door.
The final scene shows the male figure carrying the female down the stairs with her arms and legs flailing loosely.
Police have rubbished speculation that Pistorius – who is known to have kept a pistol by his bed and a machine gun at his bedroom window – may have mistaken his girlfriend of three months for an intruder.
CCTV footage from the gated community showed Miss Steenkamp arriving at the complex shortly after 6pm on February 13, eNews Channel Africa reported.
Some in South Africa have speculated about the nature of Miss Steenkamp’s friendship with the South African national team rugby player Francois Hougaard, and whether this played a part in the tragedy.
However Oscar Pistorius today gave a horrifying account of the night he shot dead his girlfriend claiming he mistook her for a burglar when he woke up in the middle of the night.
In a statement read out to Pretoria magistrates court, the Paralympic athlete said he had been on the balcony of his house when he heard noises from the bathroom.
Believing Reeva Steenkamp was asleep in bed, he grabbed his gun and shouted a warning before firing four shots through the door, a judge was told.
It was only then, Pistorius claims that he realised Miss Steenkamp was not in bed.
‘I kicked the door open,’ he said. ‘I tried to help her but she died in my arms.’
Pistorius now remains in custody until the hearing begins again tomorrow morning – the 26-year-old sobbed uncontrollably today and at one point the magistrate stopped the proceedings to allow him to regain his composure and have an energy drink.
The court appearance comes on the same day as Miss Steenkamp’s funeral, a private service, after her body was returned to her home town of Port Elizabeth.
Pistorius is today facing the possibility of months in jail before a trial after a magistrate ruled that he faces a charge of premeditated murder – the judge said he could not exclude the possibility of planning in the death.
In an affidavit Pistorius made the following statement read out by his lawyer.
‘I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder because I had no intention to kill. I had no intention to kill my girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
‘I have been informed I have been accused of murder – I deny the accusation. Nothing can be further from the truth that I planned the murder of my girlfriend