JOHANNESBURG — With his past triumphs now tarnished because he shot and killed his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius on Monday will enter court to be confronted with the jarring possibility that he will be sent to prison for at least 25 years.
For the champion runner without legs, who trained himself to overcome all obstacles, nothing else matters now but beating the murder charge against him.
Pistorius’ family said Saturday that their focus is only on the trial. The life story of Pistorius, if found guilty, will be recast.
When Pistorius walks on his prosthetics into North Gauteng High Court for the start of his trial, seemingly little remains of the Blade Runner, the double amputee who ran alongside the world’s best and inspired many by overcoming the loss of his legs before he was a year old.
Now, the 27-year-old Olympian must fight allegations that, in a rage, he intentionally shot at girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp four times through a toilet door, killing her.
Prosecutors allege that Pistorius then lied extensively about the shooting, throwing doubt on everything the world thought it knew about him.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel called Pistorius a man “willing and ready to fire and kill” as the state charged him with premeditated murder. Prosecutors say there was “a measure of preparation” in the way he killed Steenkamp after the couple argued at his home.
Pistorius gives a different story, saying he was terrified in the mistaken belief that there was a dangerous intruder in his home about to hurt him and the woman he says he loved dearly.
“I knew I had to protect Reeva and myself,” Pistorius said in an 11-page affidavit, his only testimony so far. She died in his arms, he said.
Which version is true? It is the question that will underline Pistorius’ trial.
Large parts of the trial will be broadcast live from Courtroom GD in Pretoria’s high-court building.
His life has been tumultuous and touched by tragedy before. Pistorius emerged from the hardship of his disability and the sudden death of his mother, the biggest influence on him, to become a role model for many.
He was banned from competing against the able-bodied because of his carbon-fiber running blades, but he got that overturned. He was a boundary-breaking athlete who tested the world’s preconceptions of what disabled meant.
A murderer? A hero who made a mistake? Or someone caught in the middle, afraid but also too fast in firing. Those are the options that must be weighed by Judge Thokozile Masipa when she decides whether to convict on murder, acquit, or find Pistorius guilty of a lesser offense of negligent killing.
Timeline
Aug. 4, 2012: Pistorius becomes the first amputee to compete on the track at the Olympics.
Aug. 10, 2012: Anchors his team to a last-place finish in the 4×400 Olympic final. Still comes off the track smiling after realizing a career goal.
Feb. 14, 2013: Pistorius is arrested in the early hours of Valentine’s Day after the predawn shooting death of model Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria house.
Monday: Pistorius is due to appear at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for the start of his murder trial.
