Johannesburg : In a sensational revelation, it has emerged out that a family member of Oscar Pistorius, who has been placed under house arrest in connection with the murder case of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has received threats that the former Paralympics runner would be gang raped in prison.
Earlier this week, Pistorius walked on his stumps in the court and pictures of his murdered girlfriend were made public. According to police, Pistorius’ cousin Arnoldus Kurt Pistorius received threats in a series of WhatsApp messages, News24 reported.
The family had laid criminal charges, submitting all their evidence to the Garsfontein Police Station, following which the police have started investigating the case of intimidation. Submitting before the police, Arnoldus said last week that he had received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number, wherein he was asked to verify if he was Pistorius’ cousin, which he did.
He further said that the person then claimed to have evidence that state prosecutor Gerrie Nel had paid a prison nurse to lie in court. Arnoldus insisted that when the suspect realised that he was not interested, he started threatening, which included that Oscar would be gang raped on his return to jail.
Oscar will be sentenced on July 6 for the murder of Steenkamp in February 2013. The 29-year-old has always claimed that he had accidently killed his girlfriend after mistaking her for an intruder in his toilet, adding that he then battered the door down using the bat.
Earlier in December, Pistorius was found guilty of murder after the Supreme Court overturned his previous culpable homicide conviction following the state’s successful attempt in challenging the verdict. Pistorius, known as the Blade Runner, was released on parole in October 2015 and has been placed under house arrest since then at his uncle’s house after serving almost a year in prison of his five-year sentence.
According to the South African law, the minimum sentence for murder is 15 years in prison.
