Oscar to sell horses, house to cover legal costs

REUTERS

Murder accused Oscar Pistorius. File photo: Reuters

Related Stories

• Oscar appeals against his bail conditions
• Oscar’s trial set to cost a fortune
• $50 000 for Oscar’s bullet door
• Pistorius is a broken man - friend

Pretoria - Oscar Pistorius is selling the home where he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp to pay for his soaring legal costs.

He is also selling off his prized pedigree horses.

Oscar is out on bail after admitting to shooting his girlfriend Reeva through a toilet door.

His uncle Arnold Pistorius, speaking through his personal assistant, told the Daily Voice that Oscar is selling the house in which Reeva died to pay for his top-notch legal team.

“Legal teams are very expensive. It has a significant financial impact,” he told the Daily Voice.

Responding to reports in foreign media that Oscar is suicidal, Arnold says any person who lost a loved one in such a tragic way would be broken.

Police crime scene tape marks off Oscar Pistorius's Pretoria home. File photo: Reuters

REUTERS

“He is in mourning and is very, very sad, but not suicidal,” he added.

He said Oscar, 26, has been seeing a therapist.

“The family supports Oscar each and every day since the tragic event of the 14th,” Arnold said.

“The Pistorius family, as witnessed throughout the bail hearing, is very close and supportive.”

Meanwhile, Oscar’s close friend and business partner says the Olympian is “dejected, sombre and depressed”.

“Oscar is really taking this hard; he has no confidence and doesn’t make eye contact anymore. He’s carrying the world on his shoulders. He’s a broken man,” Mike Azzie told the Daily Voice.

Azzie co-owns R3.6 million racehorse Potala Palace with Oscar and is a trainer and owner of Mike Azzie’s Racing Stables.

“He is in the process of selling shares in two horses, but the process has been stalled because the experts we normally use to get the horses appraised are not in the country at the moment,” he said.

To determine how much the horses are worth, they need to be assessed, he explained.

Azzie said that his and Oscar’s 15-year relationship went well beyond being business partners.

Oscar grew up in front of him and was in school with his twin boys at Pretoria Boys High.

“Reeva’s father is a horse trainer as well, so I knew him,” said Azzie.

“It is a parent’s worst fear to have to bury their children, but this is just so uncharacteristic of Oscar.”

When asked if Oscar was selling the horses to cover his legal costs, Azzie said: “Well, what other reason could there be? He has no income. Nike and Oakley have pulled their contracts. He needs the money.

“Do you think the State is going to pay for his defence?

“Like they are paying for the defence of the police who dragged that man and killed him?” he said, referring to taxi driver Mido Macia, who died in Daveyton police cells two weeks ago.

“He did not mean to kill Reeva. Whenever we talk to each other, he asks us to pray for her and her family. I love that boy – he’s been through enough,” he said.

Azzie was angry that he had been misquoted in a new BBC documentary entitled Oscar Pistorius: What Really Happened?

“They said that I said that Oscar is suicidal. I said he was down and depressed as any normal person would be. They also asked me leading questions,” he said.

“I am very upset about this. I won’t be talking about Oscar to the media anymore.”

Daily Voice