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South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, is seeking to have his bail conditions relaxed so that he can travel abroad, a report said yesterday.
News channel eNCA said that lawyers for the sprint star will ask for his ban on foreign travel to be lifted, along with mandatory drug and alcohol tests.
The lawyers are arguing that Pistorius – who says the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp was a tragic accident – is not a flight risk.
The papers requesting an easing of the bail conditions were reportedly filed with the North Gauteng High Court yesterday.
Pistorius’s lawyer Kenny Oldwage refused to comment.
Pistorius, 26, has also reportedly asked for the “blanket ban” on talking to residents of his gated community to be lifted and for him to be able to return to the house where Steenkamp was shot.
The papers were reported to say that “there is no desire by the appellant to use any prohibited substance or alcohol” but that the condition was unfair.
They asked that he be allowed to travel internationally, with police permission.
Pistorius’s agent Peet Van Zyl said he was not aware of Pistorius’s desire to travel, adding that his participation in overseas competitions had been cancelled.
He also said that Pistorius had not restarted training.
The athlete was granted bail on February 22 after paying a bond of 1mn rand (roughly $110,000).
Prosecutors have charged Pistorius with the premeditated murder of his 29-year-old girlfriend and he is due back in court in June.
The double-amputee admits shooting Steenkamp repeatedly through a locked bathroom door, but says he mistook her for an intruder.
Steenkamp’s family is meanwhile mulling legal action against the sprinter, their lawyer said yesterday.
Attorney Mike Venter said a civil claim was being considered against him. But a source close to the family said no decision had yet been taken.
The Steenkamp family have kept a low profile since their daughter’s death amid a media frenzy over the case.
A detective who bungled the initial investigation into the case resigned from the police force on Wednesday.
Hilton Botha was one of the police force’s most experienced detectives, with a 22-year career as a police officer.
But during Pistorius’s bail hearing last month, his evidence was repeatedly picked apart by the defence.
He admitted in court that the investigation “could have been handled better”, conceding that he may have contaminated the crime scene and that his team failed to spot a bullet lodged in the toilet.
It then emerged that he was facing charges of attempted murder for shooting at a minibus in 2011.
He was promptly replaced as the chief investigator in the Pistorius case by South Africa’s top detective.
There are no comments.
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