Pistorius' bail hearing postponed

 　　PRETORIA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Pretoria Magistrate¹ Court on Tuesday postponed² Paralympian Oscar Pistorius' bail³ hearing to Wednesday.

　　Magistrate Desmond Nair ruled that the bail hearing be heard under Schedule 6 Offence of the Criminal Procedure Act. This means that Pistorius faces a charge of pre-meditated murder for which bail is granted under exceptional circumstances.

　　The court room was packed to the brim with scores of local and international journalists jostling to enter the court room.

　　Pistorius was arrested on Thursday on allegations of shooting his girl friend Reeva Steenkamp at his luxury Silver Woods Estate home east of South Africa's capital, Pretoria. He has been in custody⁴ since his arrest. Pistorius claims he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar.

　　Reeva Steenkamp was a model and a law graduate. The two had been seeing each other since late last year.

　　During the bail hearing in court, Pistorius appeared exhausted⁵, distraught and in tears. State Prosecutor⁶ Gerrie Nel opposed bail, saying Pistorius pre-meditated the murder of his girlfriend.

　　Nel told the court that the state evidence is that Steenkamp was shot three times behind a closed bathroom door.

　　He added that before the murder, Pistorius woke up, put on his prosthetic legs and walked seven metres to the bathroom where he shot his girlfriend three times through the bathroom door.

　　"The door was broken open from outside. There is no possible information to support his version that it was a burglar," Nel said.

　　He said that by preparing and arming himself Oscar's motive⁷ was to kill. He further argued that no burglar could break into a house and lock himself in the bathroom.

　　However, Pistorius's lawyer Advocate Barry Roux disagreed, "We submit it's not even murder," Roux said.

　　In his affidavit⁸ read in court in support of his bail application, Pistorius said, "I have no intention to relocate as I love my country. I deny that I committed murder."

　　The affidavit revealed for the first time Pistorius's version of what happened on that fateful Thursday morning. He wrote that on 13 February he and Steenkamp agreed to have a quiet dinner at home. Steenkamp did yoga exercises before the two fell asleep.

　　Pistorius alleged⁹ he went out of the bedroom to get a fan and he heard noises in the bathroom. He screamed that the person must come out and later fired gun shots not knowing Reeva was inside. He then used a cricket bat to break the bathroom door and found Reeva slumped¹⁰ over in the toilet still alive and called paramedics but she later died.

　　"We were deeply in love and couldn't be happier. I did not mean to kill Reeva," Pistorius said.

　　The 26-year-old athlete's both legs were amputated before he could even walk after doctors discovered that he was born without the slender born supporting his legs below knee joint¹¹.

　　Though he has used prosthetic legs since childhood, he went on to win gold, silver and bronze medals in world paralympic games.

　　However, his agent has since announced that all his planned competitions have been cancelled to allow him to deal with the murder charges he is facing.

　　As Pistorius's lawyers fought hard inside the court to get him bail, there was a lot of activity outside the court and away.

　　A group of women including members of the ruling African National Congress Women's League protested outside the Pretoria Magistrate court calling on the court to deny bail to the murder accused. Some carried placards written, "No bail for Pistorius," and "Pistorius must rot in jail."

　　Also on Tuesday, the family of Steenkamp gathered at a private memorial service at her home town in Port Elizabeth. Her body was later cremated¹² at the Victoria Park Crematorium in the presence of family members and a few invited guests.

　　Steenkamp's bother Adam Steenkamp said her death had traumatised the family. "Everyone is sad understandably but at certain points we were smiling towards remembering Reeva because we only have good memories of her," he said.

　　Family spokesperson Michael Steenkamp sobbed¹³ bitterly when expressing the family's sorrow. He said, "We are all here together as family and there is only one thing missing, Reeva."

1 magistrate   

n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官

参考例句：

• The magistrate committed him to prison for a month.法官判处他一个月监禁。
• John was fined 1000 dollars by the magistrate.约翰被地方法官罚款1000美元。

2 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

3 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

4 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

5 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

6 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

7 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

8 affidavit   

n.宣誓书

参考例句：

• I gave an affidavit to the judge about the accident I witnessed.我向法官提交了一份关于我目击的事故的证词。
• The affidavit was formally read to the court.书面证词正式向出席法庭的人宣读了。

9 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

10 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

11 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

12 cremated   

v.火葬，火化（尸体）( cremate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He wants to is cremated, not buried. 他要火葬，不要土葬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bodies were cremated on the shore. 他们的尸体在海边火化了。 来自辞典例句

13 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。