Police are investigating if Oscar Pistorius may
have shot dead his girlfriend in a fit of so-called 'steroid rage' - an
explosion of aggression caused by performance-boosting steroids.
Officers who searched the 26-year-old's home after
Reeva Steenkamp was killed are reported to have found steroids, according to
The Sun.
Miss Steenkamp, 29, was shot four times early on
Thursday at Pistorius’s luxury home in a secure housing estate on the outskirts
of Pretoria.
This morning the South African Police Service refused to respond to the claim,
but sources close to investigation had previously told a local paper that the
steroid rage was one line of enquiry and that the star's blood was being tested
for drugs.
Police have rubbished speculation that Pistorius –
who is known to have kept a pistol by his bed and a machine gun at his bedroom
window – may have mistaken his girlfriend of three months for an intruder.
As he awaits the result of his bail application
tomorrow, it was reported this morning that Pistorius accidentally discharged a
gun in a busy Johannesburg restaurant - and nearly hit his friend's foot.
The Paralympic star visited a branch of the South African restaurant chain
Tasha's with group of friends which included girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in
January this year.
According boxer Kevin Lerena, who was also part of
the dining party, Pistorius was given the gun by someone else in the
group.
He was examining the weapon when it suddenly went
off, Mr Lerena claimed.
'I got a huge fright, because the bullet hit the
ground just centimetres from my foot', Lerena told South Africa's Beeld
newspaper.
He went on: 'I must emphasise that the gun belonged
to one of Pistorius' friends - I'm not going to mention his name.
'Oscar just wanted to look at the gun, and it sort
of snagged on his pants, releasing the safety catch.
'A shot went off. I wouldn't call him negligent, it
was just an accident. He apologised to me for days afterwards,' Mr Lerena
reportedly said.
The restaurant's manager Jason Loupis has said that
he heard a 'loud bang' but that when he went to investigate, everyone on the
table denied it was them.
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