Oscar Pistorius was “often spoiling for a fight” and threatened a sportsman during a row over a girlfriend, it was claimed today.
South African former footballer Marc Batchelor described threats made against him by Pistorius, which were brought up at the athlete’s bail hearing last week.
Pistorius, 26, is said to have threatened Batchelor twice on the phone when the ex-footballer defended a friend who was involved in a row with the athlete over a girlfriend. Batchelor said: “He phoned me up, saying, ‘You piece of sh*t ... You c***,’ all that kind of stuff. He said he was going to f*** me up.
“I just laughed at him. I told him, ‘Oscar, I can’t hit a man with no legs.’” The Paralympic champion, known as Blade Runner, is accused of shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 29, dead in a pre-planned attack at his Pretoria home following a row on Valentine’s Day. The star denies murder and says he killed her by accident after mistaking her for a burglar.
On Friday he was re-leased on bail. Friends of model Ms Steenkamp have told how she was worried about Pistorius’s behaviour. Cecil Myers, father of her best friend, said: “He kept pestering her, phoning and phoning and phoning her. Oscar was hasty and impatient and very moody.
“She told me he pushed her a bit into a corner. She felt caged in. I told him not to force himself on her. Back off.”
Today police said much of the evidence against the star was not presented at the bail hearing. Detectives have told Ms Steenkamp’s family the post-mortem examination has shown her skull was crushed by a bloodied cricket bat found at Pistorius’s home.
The athlete’s lawyers claimed he used it to break down the door to the lavatory through which he fired four times. The trial is set to start on June 4.
South Africa’s leading mobile phone analyst, Francois Moller, will examine two iPhones and two BlackBerrys found at the house. It has been speculated a late-night text to Ms Steenkamp from a close friend, South Africa rugby player Francois Hougaard, may have sent Pistorius into a rage. Mr Hougaard’s agent denied any involvement by the star.
Pistorius’s brother Carl is facing trial charged with the culpable homicide of a woman motorcyclist in 2008. His family said it was a “tragic accident”.
