Oscar Pistorius, the Paraolympian charged with fatally shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day, said in a court hearing on Tuesday that he thought someone had broken into his South Africa home.
Pistorius said he mistook Steenkamp for a robber. He also said he had received death threats in the past and kept a firearm beside his bed, according to NBCNews.com.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nell insisted there was nothing to Pisorius' intruder claims because Steenkamp was shot dead through the door of a small bathroom in his Pretoria suburban home. Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled that Pistorius would face a charge of premeditated murder, but the hearing was adjourned until Wednesday morning.
"This man was a hero, a superhero, an idol to so many people to millions of people, and I am one of those people who put a halo over his head," said sports commentator Mary Carillo, who met with Pistorius while covering the 2012 Paralympics. "Now he's doing a perp walk. It's still hard to reconcile."
Carillo described that all over Pretoria, people are holding up signs reading, "Oscar Pistorius, go rot in hell. Go to prison."
"Clearly this guy was worried about his safety, worried about security, he was a gun guy; that's very, very clear; he could be spending the rest of his life in jail," Carillo said on NBC's "Today" Show. "Pistorius was a man who clearly killed Reeva Steenkamp. That's not even being argued by the defense team. The big question is, as the prosecution team is trying to allege, [did he commit an] execution, or [was it] just a horrible, horrible tragedy?"
Pistorius had previously been arrested for assault in 2009, and previous domestic violence calls were made to his home.
The reality show that Steenkamp was set to appear in still is being aired on South African TV.
