Oscar Pistorius may have crushed his girlfriend skull with a cricket bat

Oscar Pistorius may have beaten his girlfriend with a cricket bat before shooting her, South African police believe.Detectives are reported to have recovered a bloodied bat from the Paralympic champion’s bedroom and to have established that model Reeva Steenkamp’s skull had been ‘crushed’.This and other evidence, a smashed bathroom door, a 9mm pistol, the peculiar pattern of wounds on the body and reports of a row earlier in the evening is said to have led them to believe the murder case against the sprinter is ‘rock solid’.
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.

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.
Prosecutors have formally charged Pistorius with premeditated murder but the Blade Runner’s family say he firmly denies such a charge.
Yesterday it emerged that he called his close friend Justin Divaris shortly after the killing – reportedly before the emergency services were alerted – and told him: ‘There has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva.’
Mr Divaris rushed to the house, where he said Pistorius repeatedly told him: ‘My baba, I’ve killed my baba. God take me away.’
While no officials would comment publicly on the case, a disturbing – though disputed – picture of what may have happened in Pistorius’s home started to emerge.
Neighbours have said they heard shouting coming from the house at around 1.30am. There were some suggestions, quickly denied, that the row may have been about Miss Steenkamp’s friendship with a rugby player.
At around 3.20am, four shots rang out – apparently not all at once. The first person Pistorius called was his father Henke, 59.

When he arrived, he allegedly saw his son carrying his nightie-clad girlfriend down the stairs.
She had been shot in the head, hip, arm and hand. Pistorius – and later paramedics – struggled in vain to save Miss Steenkamp’s life.
Police reportedly found the bloodied cricket bat in the bedroom. The en-suite bathroom door was riddled with holes, a pistol holster was found by Pistorius’s bed and a gun cartridge was on the floor.
South Africa’s City Press quoted an unnamed police source as saying: ‘The suspicion is that the first shot, in the bedroom, hit her in the hip. She then ran and locked herself in the toilet.
‘She was doubled over because of the pain. He fired three more shots. She probably covered her head, which is why the bullet also went through her hand.’
The source said police are carrying out tests to establish whose blood is on the bat.
While one scenario is that Pistorius attacked Miss Steenkamp with the wooden bat, it has also been claimed that the model may have used it to defend herself.

A third possibility is that Pistorius used it to break down the bathroom door. Those close to Pistorius have suggested that he may done so in a bid to ‘save’ his dying girlfriend.
According to this theory, the athlete first shot Miss Steenkamp by accident, whereupon she fled to the bathroom. He then shot at the door lock to try to get in, accidentally killing her.
Pistorius’s father appeared to suggest it is this version that he believes.
While he admitted that he had not talked to his son in detail about what happened, he said he had ‘zero doubt’ that the sportsman thought Miss Steenkamp was an intruder.
A more likely defence from Pistorius is to acknowledge that there was a row but that he did not intend to kill her.

Reeva’s father Barry Steenkamp said that the athlete would have to ‘live with his  conscience’ if he is lying about how he killed her.

He told Afrikaans-language newspaper Beeld: ‘It doesn’t matter how much money he has and how good his team of lawyers is, he must be able to live with his conscience if he allows his team of lawyers to lie on his behalf.
‘He will have to live with his conscience. But if he speaks the truth, I can perhaps someday forgive him. If it does not happen as he tells it, he must suffer.’
In another interview, Reeva’s mother June said: ‘Everything  has been taken away from me in such a terrible way. The only thing that matters now is the truth.’

Some in South Africa have speculated about the nature of Miss Steenkamp’s friendship with Springbok rugby player Francois Hougaard, and whether this played a part in the tragedy.
The 24-year-old was keen to distance himself from such reports at the weekend. His agent said: ‘This whole sad ordeal has got nothing to do with him.’
Last night Pistorius’s agent said he had withdrawn him  from all planned races but insisted his sponsors were sticking by him.
The tragedy has also cast fresh light on Pistorius’s apparent attraction to danger and weaponry.