Johannesburg: South African police have found a bloodied cricket
bat at the home of Oscar Pistorius, a local newspaper reported on
Sunday, following the Valentine's Day killing of his model girlfriend.
The
star Olympian and Paralympian athlete was charged on Friday with the
murder of 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp who was shot dead at his luxury
Pretoria home in a case that has gripped the world.
Police sources close to the investigation told the independent City Press newspaper that Steenkamp's skull had been "crushed".
"There was lots of blood on the bat," one source told the paper.
Police
are investigating whether the bat was used to assault Steenkamp, who
was shot four times in the early hours of Thursday, or if she used it to
defend herself.
Police have dismissed initial suggestions that
Pistorius, 26, could have mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder, and City
Press said she was wearing a nightie at the time of the killing.
"The
suspicion is that the first shot, in the bedroom, hit her in the hip.
She then ran and hid herself in the toilet... He fires three more
shots," a police source told City Press.
Pistorius -- a national
icon who inspired people around the world when he became the first
double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympic
Games last year -- is spending the weekend in a police cell after being
charged with murder.
He is due to apply for bail at a new court
hearing on Tuesday, the same day a memorial service will be held for his
slain girlfriend.
Pistorius, who had been going out with
Steenkamp since late last year, faces a life sentence if convicted of
premeditated murder, as alleged by state prosecutors.
His family
has indicated that the star athlete, who broke down sobbing during his
initial court appearance on Friday, would plead not guilty.
"We
have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the
state's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes
any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all,"
his uncle Arnold Pistorius said in a statement on Saturday.... NDTV
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