Oscar Pistorious, the South African Paralympic champion, faces two additional gun-related charges for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, the prosecution said on Tuesday, as reported by the Agence France Presse. The trial is set for March 3, 2014 at the Pretoria High Court.
"The prosecution received authorization to combine or centralize all charges against Mr Pistorius," National Prosecution Authority spokesman Nathi Mncube told AFP.
While Pistorious admitted he killed his girlfriend in the early hours of Valentine's Day at his home, he deemed it accidental, saying he shot her through a locked bathroom door mistaking her for an intruder. Prosecutors intend to say that the killing was an act of premeditated murder.
"According to local media, the sprint star once fired a shot through the sunroof of his former girlfriend Samantha Taylor's car. He had also allegedly accidentally discharged a firearm at a Johannesburg restaurant, weeks before he killed Steenkamp," AFP also reported.
Pistorius was once seen as a athletic hero in South Africa when he catapulted to fame at the 2012 London Olympics as the first double-amputee to compete against 'able-bodied' athletes, news reports said. He was born without calf bones and had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old.
His murder trial, which has caused a firestorm in the county, is expected to hear testimonies largely from Pistorius's neighbors, news reports said. South Africa does not have a jury system, and Pistorius is currently on bail.
