Report: Pistorius called ex hours before shooting

Report: Pistorius called ex hours before shooting

Oct 1, 2014 by Christopher Chavez
Report: Pistorius called ex hours before shooting

Police officers missed evidence in the investigation into the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp by the hands of Oscar Pistorius on the night of the Valentines Day 2013. South Africa’s Eyewitness News looked into phone records and discovered the Olympian spoke with an ex-girlfriend minutes before Steenkamp paid him a visit. 

Phone records show Pistorius called and spoke with ex-girlfriend Jenna Edkins for nine minutes just a few hours before the shooting. Police overlooked the evidence as the phone was removed from the crime scene and the call history was deleted. 

Edkins’ number was saved on Pistorius’ phone as “Babyshoes.” Edkins was never questioned by police or appeared in court. She told Eyewitness News that she and Pistorius remained friends after their relationship ended. 

On Sept. 12, Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide and will be sentenced on Oct. 12. The conviction was not based off any evidence obtained from the cellphones. 

Pistorius’ family issued a statement before the Eyewitness news report saying:

“We are not sure of the allegations which are to be made or the source of such allegations, but we are not aware of any deletions having been affected by Oscar or effected on his instructions that could be relevant to this trial or could have impacted on this trial.”

“As far as we are aware all relevant communications were put before the court. "The relevance of the communications from Oscar's phones, iPad and laptop was properly dealt with by the court and ultimately played no role in the matter, this having been found by the court.”

Chris Chavez is a writer at Flotrack. Feel free to to reach him with any questions, comments, or feedback on Twitter or by email.