Oscar Pistorius Faces Two Additional Charges In Girlfriend’s Murder

Oscar Pistorious, the inspiring double-amputee Olympian who is accused of killing his girlfriend in South Africa, is facing two additional charges.

Prosecutors in the case are expected to add two more charges to the premeditated murder charge Pistorious is already facing.

The track star is now facing charges of murder, illegal possession of ammunition, and two counts of breaking South Africa’s firearms laws in his upcoming March trial.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Nathi Mncube told The Associated Press, attorneys for the athlete received a letter indicating that the two charges would be added to the indictment served to Oscar Pistorious in March.

The lawyers failed in the initial application to oppose the two charges, but can “make the matter up” later, according to Mncube.

The spokesman explained that the two charges against Oscar Pistorious are not in the original indictment, because they allegedly took place in the Johannesberg area, which is a different jurisdiction of that in which the murder happened.

Pistorious is accused of killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his Pretoria home in the early morning hours of February 14.

Prosecutors were required to ask for permission from the new National Director of Public Prosecutions to file all the charges at once, since the fire arms charges occurred in a different jurisdiction.

“The National Director has indeed given them (prosecutors) that authority and they will be added,” Mncube said. “They are not new charges, they were charges that already existed. They were just in a different jurisdiction.”

Even though, the charges are not officially being revealed at this time, they are believed to be related to Pistorious firing arms in public.

According to media reports, it is not the first time the Olympian has fired a gun in public. He previously did so when he was driving with a former girlfriend and another time at a restaurant in Johannesburg, when he apparently accidentally fired a friend’s gun under a table while admiring it.

Pistorius denies the murder charges and says he shot Steenkamp in self-defense, through a bathroom door, with his licensed 9 mm handgun believing she was an intruder in his house. Prosecutors say he intended to kill her, possibly after a heated argument the night before.

The 26-year-old athlete faces life in prison with a minimum of 25 years, if he is convicted on the main charge of premeditated murder in the death of Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day.

Oscar Pistorious’ trial is set to start March 3, 2014.