A bloody cricket bat found in Oscar Pistorius’ home will complicate the athlete’s defense that he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp because he thought she was an intruder. South Africa’s City Press newspaper reports the bloodied bat is now the “central piece of evidence” and police are working on three possible theories: that Pistorius beat Steenkamp with it, that she defended herself with it, or that the athlete used it to break down the door to the bathroom where Steenkamp was hiding.
Three sources tell the paper Steenkamp’s skull was “crushed” and that the case against Pistorius is “rock solid.” It’s not just the bat. Steenkamp was wearing a negligee when she was found and her overnight bag and iPad were on Pistorius’ bedroom floor. The sheets on the bed were also rumpled. “The suspicion is that the first shot, in the bedroom, hit her in the hip. She then ran and locked herself in the toilet. She was doubled over because of the pain. He fired three more shots,” a source tells the paper.
The police refused to comment on the reports of the bloody bat. “I don’t know where they got it from, but they didn’t get it from any official source in the police,” a police spokesman told AFP. “We want to give the investigators an opportunity to investigate and we will make an official statement after the bail application.”
