Two More Criminal Charges for Oscar Pistorius

The South African police have concluded their investigation into the death of Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day. Steenkamp was shot by her popular athlete boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius who claims that at the time of the incident, he thought he was shooting a burglar. The pair had only been dating for four months when Steenkamp was killed at the home of the famous athlete.

The outcome of the investigation has led the police to add two more charges for Pistorius to respond to. Media reports say that the National Prosecuting Authority has already made the Pistorius legal team aware of their intention to turn up the heat when Pistorius returns to court on Monday. Oscar Pistorius must now defend himself against two charges of recklessly discharging a firearm in a public place. It is believed that the trial date will be set on Monday and will most likely be early in 2014.

The NPA considered two separate incidents before the Reeva Steenkamp shooting when deciding to prosecute Pistorius for the additional charges. One of those incidents happened when Pistorius opened the sunroof of his friend’s vehicle and fired a gun. This was on the return trip of a holiday getaway. The other charge is for a shooting which occurred at a restaurant in Johannesburg. Pistorius accidentally fired someone else’s gun but no one was hurt.

Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp was born on 19 August 1983. This year, there will be no birthday cheer in the Steenkamp household. Her family left Cape Town for Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape years ago. Reeva Steenkamp will never be home for another birthday again.

She became interested in modeling when she was fourteen years old. Her modeling career was cemented when she featured on FHM magazine. Steenkamp was the first South African face of Avon cosmetics. In 2012, she came in at 45^th place in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll of South African readers.

The energetic and passionate beauty was drawn to television. She appeared on several commercials. Her biggest television appearance was recorded shortly before she died. She was one of the contestants on a reality television show called Tropika Island of Treasure.

There has been speculation that her love life may have had something to do with the events which led to her death. Reeva Steenkamp started dating Oscar Pistorius soon after breaking up from another athlete, Springbok rugby player Francois Hougaard. While Pistorius applied for bail in Pretoria, Hougaard attended Steenkamp’s funeral in Port Elizabeth.

The state may not have a watertight case against  Oscar Pistorius because the police admitted to contaminating evidence at the crime scene. There have also been administrative and procedural blunders such as deploying a lead detective who also faced criminal charges at the time of the Steenkamp murder investigation. The public and the Steenkamp family are eager to hear when the trial of Oscar Pistorius will begin.