On the morning of Thursday February 14th 2013 (Valentine’s Day) the African Sports world which was still celebrating the success of the Super Eagles of Nigeria after they had won their third African Cup of Nations title in South Africa with the first indigenous African coach to do so in Stephen Keshi, was rocked with the breaking news that Oscar Pistorious the first disabled athlete to ever be allowed to compete against able bodied athletes


had murdered his girlfriend and model Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria home in South Africa.


The Super Eagles of Nigeria had barely landed in Lagos when their thunder of na- tional celebrations was stolen from the media headlines by the mind boggling and tragic events of the alleged murder of Ms. Steenkamp by one of Africa’s biggest sports figures in recent years.


The news spread like wildfire and as expected cyberspace lit up with speculations and rumors. The first official reports coming from media outlets in South Africa was that Pistorious had shot Steenkamp after he mistook her for a burglar who he thought had broken into his home.


A wave of unfounded claims and hearsay filtered rapidly onto social media following his arrest by the local police in Pretoria proving Pistorious was a very polarizing fig- ure rather than what was believed by many about the star being a well liked person. Evidence of his disconnect with many on the far end of the spectrum from his ador- ing fans was seen through the flood of vitriolic comments that were flowing out on Social Media about the alleged murder.


The initial parts of this latest saga in sports played out in a Pretoria courtroom on the week of February 17th – 23rd where Pistorious was summoned for a bail hearing and


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