Pistorius bail application to be completed by Friday – NPA

A bail application by murder accused Paralympian Oscar Pistorius will be completed before the end of the week, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Medupi Simasiku has said.

He told reporters outside the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court that Pistorius’ application had not become a drawn-out issue.

“It’s not long [the bail process]. There are so many cases that can be longer than this. We believe that by Friday we would have wrapped up the whole bail application,” said Simasiku.

He said Pistorius would be held overnight at the Brooklyn police station, where he spent the weekend. The athlete’s bail application will resume tomorrow.

Simasiku denied Pistorius was getting preferential treatment from the authorities, particularly at the police station.

“Like any other person, it is fair for him to get that opportunity to meet with his legal team to prepare for his bail process. The decision to keep him at the police station was taken to enable him to meet his legal team,” he said.

“That decision was not taken because he is favoured, or [because] he is a celebrity.”

He declined to comment on Pistorius’ affidavits, which were presented to the court today.

“We cannot say much, lest we prejudice the whole process. We have to respond in court, as the State,” said Simasiku.

In an affidavit read out to the court today, Pistorius denied murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on the morning of Valentine’s Day.

“I deny the allegation in the strongest terms. Nothing can be further from the truth,” he said in the affidavit, which was read by his lawyer, Advocate Barry Roux.

Pistorius had been tearful the whole morning, but when the affidavit, marked “Exhibit A”, was produced during his bail application, he began sobbing to the extent that his body shook.

His brother Carl held his back and placed his hand over his head, passing him an energy drink as Roux read that Steenkamp had given Pistorius a Valentine’s Day present and that he “couldn’t have been happier”.

- Sapa