Media gathers for Pistorius appearance

Television crews lined the pavement across the road from the court’s entrance and reporters and photographers waited at the entrance to be allowed inside. Others waited at the back entrance to the court. It would have been his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp’s 30th birthday on Monday.

Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder after the model and law graduate was shot dead in his Pretoria home on February 14. Inside the courtroom journalists started taking their seats with many sitting on the floor in front.

The first two rows of the public gallery on one side was reserved for the Pistorius family while the first row of the other side was reserved for the Steenkamp family. Pistorius was expected to learn at his appearance on Monday what all his formal charges are.

The State was expected to serve the double amputee with an indictment, the National Prosecuting Authority said on Friday. “We also expect to have the trial starting early 2014, but we cannot at this stage confirm the exact date because this has to be agreed upon in court by all parties concerned,” spokesman Medupe Simasiku said.

“It will therefore be inappropriate for the NPA to comment about the charges beforehand.” During a subsequent bail hearing, Pistorius’s defence read out a statement in which Pistorius said he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.

He has been out on R1 million bail since February 22, with some of the conditions amended since then. On June 4, prosecutor Andrea Johnson said in court that no details of the investigation would be revealed. She said the State needed more time to investigate the crime.

This was by agreement with Pistorius’s defence. Johnson said the attention generated by Steenkamp’s murder was not something the prosecution or the State could control, and felt his rights should not be overridden and that he had the right to be treated like any other person.

Last Tuesday, police confirmed that the investigation into Steenkamp’s death had been completed and that the matter would be postponed. National police spokesman Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale said the investigating team was convinced that Pistorius had a charge to answer to. The court session was expected to start at 9am.

– Sapa