Pistorius left 9-mm gun out during magazine photo shoot

Oscar Pistorius apparently had a penchant for weapons and, besides keeping a Taurus 9mm handgun strewn about on his nightstand, the Olympic track star had applied for an arsenal of gun licenses only weeks before he was charged with murdering his girlfriend.

In a Paris Match magazine photo taken before the shooting, a silver Brazilian-made Taurus can be seen within arm's reach of his bed lying about with such mundane items as his keys, TV remote and his designer watch.  The gun wasn't even put away during the photo shoot.

Many believe this paints the picture of a disturbed, gun-crazy young man who committed premeditated murder.

The criminal case against the double-amputee known as the "Blade Runner" has taken on some surreal and O.J. Simpson-like turns — including Pistorius' claim that he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp three times by accident and some shoddy police work by the authorities — and it's only in the bail hearing stage.

The prosecution contends Pistorius was not just a casual gun user but a gun nut trying to assemble an arsenal of weaponry just days before he killed the South African model.

A report from The Associated Press has sullied the one-time Olympic star's reputation. It claims Pistorius applied for firearms licenses for a Smith & Wesson model 500 revolver, a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, a Vector .223-caliber rifle and three shotguns only three weeks before the tragic Valentine's Day shooting.

Pistorius used a licensed 9-mm Parabellum pistol to shoot Steenkamp — a different gun than the Taurus in the photo shoot.

Pistorius does not deny shooting the 29-year-old model but claims he thought Steenkamp was an intruder when he took four shots through the bathroom door.

The prosecution meanwhile had to admit to some sloppy police work including falsely identifying steroids in Pistorius' home, tramping through the crime scene in unprotected boots and lead investigator, Detective Hilton Botha, facing murder charges himself.

Pistorius' defense team is still trying to get the shamed 26-year-old athlete released on bail ahead of his trial, but has been denied.  He reportedly owns a house in Italy and prosecutors believe he is a flight risk.

"If he left, it would be difficult to get him back," said Botha.

Pistorius is facing life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.

Pistorius charged with premeditated murder of girlfriend

Oscar Pistorius was charged with premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp during a packed hearing in a Pretoria, South Africa courthouse Tuesday. The charge was upgraded after new details of the tragic shooting emerged and were laid out by the State.

The double-amputee Olympic sprinter, known as the "Blade Runner," took the time to put on his prosthetic limbs, picked up his 9mm pistol, walked over to a locked bathroom and fired four shots through the door fatally wounding the 29-year-old Steenkamp three times in the head, chest and arm during a Valentine's Day argument, according to prosecutors.

The disgraced Pistorius bowed his head and sobbed uncontrollably as his defense lawyer, Barry Roux, challenged the State's case.  The Paralympic champion is applying for bail. There was no decision on bail today and it seems unlikely, according to experts.

More than 200 photographers, reporters and TV camera men swarmed the Pretoria Regional Court for the high-profile hearing as prosecutors set up their case.

“Our case is that the applicant (Pistorius) shot and killed an unarmed, innocent woman in the early hours of February 14,” Prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court, revealing details of the State’s case for the first time. “We say the only reasonable inference is that applicant armed himself, attached his prostheses, walked seven metres to the bathroom and shot the deceased while she was in the toilet. He fired four times and aimed at the basin...She was shot three times.

“The door to the toilet was broken open from the outside and we can infer that she was locked in there," added Nel. "He then carried the deceased down the stairs when he walked into a security guard who had come into the house. The front door was open.”

Pistorius subsequently told the security guard and friends that he had mistaken Steenkamp for a burglar.

It is a claim, that Nel believes was “all part of the pre-planning” of the murder. “It was what he would say if people arrived at the house...[But] Why would a burglar lock himself in the bathroom?”

Even if Pistorius’ story about mistaking Steenkamp for a burglar were plausible, Nel argued, Pistorius “walked to the bathroom with clear intention to kill the burglar and did so while the burglar was harmless in the toilet.

“If I take my gun and walk from the bedroom to toilet and shoot the burglar, this in itself constitutes premeditated murder of a defenseless burglar. Premeditation does not require months of planning. If I arm myself and walk a distance with intention to kill someone it is premeditated.”

Nel claims Steenkamp spent the night with Pistorius and an overnight bag was found in the bedroom of his home in an exclusive gated community in eastern Pretoria.

Roux challenged the State's case.

"All we really know is that she locked herself in the toilet, she was shot through the toilet door," he argued. "That is all we know.  If you scratch the veneer off (the State's case), where is the pre-meditation, where is the pre-planning?

"Do they have evidence this was not a very good relationship?" he asked. "Then they should put it before the court that there was a serious problem in this relationship.  But they cannot do that (because they don't have it)."