VIDEO: BREAKING: Olympian Oscar Pistorius Set Free on Bail

By: Feb. 22, 2013
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The TODAY show reports that Olympian Oscar Pistorius was granted bail Friday pending his trial for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Below, watch the report on this morning's broadcast.

The Olympic and Paralympic star Pistorius, nicknamed the "Blade Runner," maintained that he did not realize Steenkamp was in the bathroom of his home in a suburb of Pretoria, South Africa, when he fired through the door in a panic over a possible prowler early on Valentine's Day.

In a statement read to the court on Tuesday, Pistorius described waking up and and going to his bedroom balcony to bring a fan inside and close the sliding glass doors and blinds. After hearing a noise in the bathroom, the double-amputee said he felt "a sense of terror" and feared a prowler was in the house.

Pistorius' account added: "I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted at Reeva to phone the police. She did not respond and I moved backwards out of the bathroom, keeping my eyes on the bathroom entrance. Everything was pitch dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light. Reeva was not responding.

"When I reached the bed, I realized that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet."

Bail was set at a million rand (about $112,000). Pistorius, who was to be freed upon payment of the money, was ordered to report to a police station twice a week among a number of bail conditions.



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