Pistorius 'numb with shock' and 'grief': uncle

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) –

South Africa’s Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius leaves the court room after his hearing on charge of murdering his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day, on February 15, 2013 at the Magistrate Court in Pretoria. Pistorius’s uncle has said the jailed track star was “numb with shock” and grief following the death Steenkamp.

Oscar Pistorius’s uncle on Saturday said the jailed track star was “numb with shock” and grief following the death of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom the sprinter has denied murdering.

Giving the strongest indication yet that the athlete plans to plead not guilty to shooting the 29-year-old blonde model, Arnold Pistorius in a statement strongly refuted “any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all.”

On Saturday Pistorius, the 26-year-old South African Paralympics gold medallist, faced a third night in police custody, accused of murdering Steenkamp in cold blood.

“We are all grieving for Reeva, her family and her friends. Oscar — as you can imagine — is also numb with shock as well as grief,” the uncle’s statement said.

“As a family we are trying to be strong and supportive to Oscar as any close family would be in these dreadful circumstances.”

The track star faces a life sentence if convicted of premeditated murder, as alleged by state prosecutors.

“We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the State’s own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all,” Arnold Pistorius said.