PRETORIA - With his past triumphs now tarnished because he shot to death his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius will today 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 yesterday that their focus is only on the trial.
When Pistorius walks on his prosthetics into court for the start of his trial, seemingly little will remain 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.
Pistorius gives a totally 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.