Johannesburg - Murder suspect Oscar Pistorius's family defended the athlete in a statement on Wednesday after his bail hearing.
“The Pistorius family is satisfied with the outcome of today's (Wednesday’s) proceedings with reference to Oscar Pistorius's bail hearing,” the athlete's PR company Stuart Higgins Communications said.
Pistorius was arrested on Thursday after his model and law graduate girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead at his home in Pretoria’s Silver Woods country estate.
He was charged with murder on Friday.
Pistorius would spend his seventh night in police cells as his bail bid was rolled over to Thursday.
“The investigating officer Hilton Botha confirmed during cross examination that the known ballistic and forensic evidence found on the scene where Reeva Steenkamp sadly lost her life was consistent with Oscar's version of events that the incident was a tragic accident,” said the statement.
Pistorius said he thought there was an intruder in the house, then realised it was Steenkamp.
On Wednesday, Pistorius's defence lawyer advocate Barry Roux attacked the police's initial investigation report on the shooting, which the state alleges was premeditated murder.
Botha earlier said the state would show through witness statements and phone records that there had been fighting before the shooting, but the autopsy showed that Steenkamp had no defensive wounds.
The Pistorius family on Wednesday said that no banned substance was found at the athlete's house. “The IAAF will have records of every single drugs test that was undertaken in and out of competitions. He has been tested on a number of occasions during the last couple of years and he has never failed a drug test to date,” his uncle Arnold Pistorius said in the statement.
The family said he was not a flight risk because of “Oscar's iconic status internationally”. - Sapa