Mother had pistol, Pistorius tells court
Paralympian Oscar Pistorius's mother Sheila kept a pistol under her pillow when he was a child, he told the High Court in Pretoria on Monday.
FILE PICTURE: Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is seen at the high court in Pretoria on Monday, 7 April 2014. Picture: Deaan Vivier/Media24/Pool
“She kept a firearm in a padded bag under her pillow,” he said to questioning from his lawyer Barry Roux.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on February 14 last year.
He was asked whether his mother had any “security concerns”.
He said his father was often not around.
“She often got scared at night. We didn’t live in the best of areas. There was a lot of crime. She would call the police, call us to her room and we would wait for the police to arrive.”
Pistorius has been charged with the murder of Steenkamp and contraventions of the Firearms Control Act.
He said he thought there was an intruder in his house when he shot and killed Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day through the door of a toilet in his Pretoria house last year. She had been spending the night.
He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.
On September 30, 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
– Sapa
