When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Geopolitics

Oscar Pistorius Sobs In Court, Charged With Premeditated Murder

BEELD, MAIL & GUARDIAN (Africa), THE GUARDIAN (UK), REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES (US)

Worldcrunch

PRETORIA - A sobbing Oscar Pistorius appeared in court Friday, as the South African double-amputee Olympic runner was formally charged with the murder of his model girlfriend.

Appearing in front of the central magistrate’s court this morning, Pistorius broke down in body-wrenching sobs as prosecutors announced that they will pursue premeditated murder charges in Thursday's pre-dawn death of 30-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp.

The 26-year-old runner became an international icon and national hero in South Africa after breaking historic barriers by competing in the 400-meters at last year's London Olympics on two specially designed blades.

Reuters reports that the hearing had been delayed for two hours due to the “media scrum” in the courtroom. No live cameras were allowed, only audio.

The Guardian’s reporter David Smith was live tweeting the hearing, reporting that Judge Desmond Nair used the phrase “premeditated murder” and was concerned that because of Pistorius’ celebrity that he would receive preferential treatment. He has not been brought to prison, remaining in police custody until his application for bail hearing next Tuesday.

Judge Nair uses phrase "a person charged with premeditated murder" and again Pistorius bends forward, head in hands, sobbing.

— David Smith (@SmithInAfrica) February 15, 2013

An advocate admitted to me Pistorius remaining in police station is due to fame not disability. "There are a lot of disabled people in jail"

— David Smith (@SmithInAfrica) February 15, 2013

Afrikaans newspaper Beeld reports that the model was shot four times through the bathroom door. The daily also quoted an unnamed neighbor of Pistorius who called the police two hours before the shooting, because of the couple’s arguing, and then again at 3 a.m. after the gunshots.

On average in South Africa, 43 people are murdered each day. Steenkamp’s murder has now reignited the debate about gun control. Adèle Kirsten for Gun Free South Africa stated that three women a day were killed by their intimate partner in 2009.

A 2012 New York Times Magazine article about Pistorius described him talking about how he had drawn his 9mm pistol to search his home when his alarm went off in the middle of the night. A 9mm pistol is reportedly the weapon in this case. At Pistorius's suggestion, he and journalist Michael Sokolove went to a nearby target range. At one point Pistorius told the writer: "If you practiced, I think you could be pretty deadly." Asked how often he went target shooting, Pistorius replied: "Just sometimes when I can't sleep."

Initial media reports had stated that Pistorius had thought Steenkamp was an intruder, but the police discount that version of events, stating that the information did not come from them. Less than three months ago, the Olympian had joked about killing an intruder on his twitter page.

The South African writer Justice Malala chimed on on The Guardian: “For us South Africans, and for many across the globe, it is impossible to watch Oscar Pistorius run without a stir of emotion, without wanting to break down and cry and shout with joy. Pistorius is no ordinary hero: he is that rare thing, a man with an almost-impossible narrative.”

This case has gripped South Africa so much so that even President Jacob Zuma’s opening of Parliament was overshadowed, failing to make the front pages of most national newspapers, says the Mail and Guardian.

Perhaps the three best-known South Africans to the rest of the world are Nelson Mandela, Charlize Theron and Oscar Pistorius. Now, all three have guns in their biographies.

In 1991, Theron’s mother shot and killed the actress' father in self-defense in front of her. Mandela buried a pistol underground more than half a century ago, which went down in legend as the first weapon of the war against apartheid. And now, South Africa awaits the trial of Pistorius -- and the funeral of Steenkamp.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Do We Need Our Parents When We Grow Up? Doubts Of A Young Father

As his son grows older, Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra wonders when a father is no longer necessary.

Do We Need Our Parents When We Grow Up? Doubts Of A Young Father

"Is it true that when I am older I won’t need a papá?," asked the author's son.

Ignacio Pereyra

It’s 2am, on a Wednesday. I am trying to write about anything but Lorenzo (my eldest son), who at four years old is one of the exclusive protagonists of this newsletter.

You see, I have a whole folder full of drafts — all written and ready to go, but not yet published. There’s 30 of them, alternatively titled: “Women who take on tasks because they think they can do them better than men”; “As a father, you’ll always be doing something wrong”; “Friendship between men”; “Impressing everyone”; “Wanderlust, or the crisis of monogamy”, “We do it like this because daddy say so”.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest