Pistorius case: No phone records yet

2013-02-21 13:20

Pretoria - The police have not yet obtained the cellphone records and itemised billing of Oscar Pistorius and his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom he is accused of murdering, investigating officer Hilton Botha said in the athlete's bail application on Thursday.

"I thought it would be handed to me, but it hasn't," Botha told magistrate Desmond Nair, in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court.

Botha himself has weathered a morning of controversy, after it emerged that he faces attempted murder charges for allegedly shooting at a minibus taxi during a police chase.

Nair, who had to have Botha called to appear, took him through a summary of the initial evidence collected after Steenkamp was shot last Thursday.

Lack of urgency

Nair said there seemed to be a lack of urgency in getting the records.

Botha said the people he gave the cellphones to would have notified him if there was anything very important on them, but they had not.

Nair kept asking why it had not yet been done.

On Thursday, the court heard that four cellphones, which had not been used for a long time, were found at the scene. The police had later found out about a fifth cellphone.

Botha has said he intended presenting statements that there had been fighting at the house.

Pistorius is charged with murdering Steenkamp, which he has denied in an affidavit.

Property in Italy

Earlier, State prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court that Pistorius had told Sarie magazine he owned a house in Italy, contrary to his lawyer's denial.

Nel said Botha called him and asked him if he had read the magazine.

"What do we do about that Mr Roux?" Nel asked Pistorius's counsel Barry Roux.

Roux insisted Pistorius did not own a house, and said: "He knows about perjury."

Nel pressed on, reading from the glossy Afrikaans women's magazine, in support of the State's opposition to bail on the grounds he was a flight risk.

He said a mayor had given the house to Pistorius, who practised in Italy for four months a year. The mayor had offered to build him a place after he made a speech there in 2010.

- See News24's Pistorius Special Report.

 

- SAPA