the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, has been granted bail after a
four-day hearing.
Magistrate Desmond Nair said the state had not made a case that he
would flee, or that he had a violent character.
The Paralympic champion denies murder, saying he shot Reeva Steenkamp
thinking she was an intruder at his home.
The next hearing in the case has been set for 4 June. Bail was set at
1m rand (£74,000; $113,000).
He was ordered to hand over his passport, avoid his home in Pretoria
and report to a police station between 07:00 and 13:00 every Monday
and Friday.
Mr Nair took almost two hours to deliver his judgement.
He criticised the testimony of Detective Hilton Botha for not
following up important leads and changing his evidence.
But the magistrate also said he had difficulty understanding why Mr
Pistorius had opened fire in the way he did.
However, he said Mr Pistorius had "reached out to meet the state's
case" and had given a full version of events at an early stage.
"I come to the conclusion that the accused has made a case to be
released on bail," he said.
Mr Pistorius's family and supporters in the court gasped and cheered
as the magistrate announced his decision.
His uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said outside court: "We are relieved by
the fact that Oscar got bail today, but at the same time, we are in
mourning for Reeva Steenkamp and her family."
No comments:
Post a Comment