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Oscar Pistorius' home was sold for a bargain 4.5 million rand (HK$3.2 million). Photo: AFP

Oscar Pistorius' home, scene of a killing, sold for a 'bargain' HK$3.2m

Accused killer's villa in South African capital changes hands for HK$3.2 million

AFP

Where others might see a house of horrors, Louwtjie Louwrens - the man who bought Oscar Pistorius' home - thinks he got the deal of a lifetime and a secure residence, even if his wife isn't so sure.

Louwrens bought the Paralympic gold medallist's villa where Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead in the bathroom for a bargain 4.5 million rand (HK$3.2 million).

In 2011, Pistorius had tried to sell the house, tucked away in a prestigious gated community in the capital Pretoria, for nearly double that amount.

"I would say at the end of the day it will be a good buy," Louwrens said. "I'm sure the property value will increase going forward."

Despite the bargain price, the idea of buying the property met resistance from his family, who balked at the idea of living at the now infamous scene of Steenkamp's alleged murder at the hands of Pistorius.

"For starters my wife wasn't that happy," Louwrens said.

Pistorius admits having shot and killed his girlfriend Steenkamp in the house on February 14, 2013, but says he mistook her for an intruder. His trial on charges of premeditated murder began in March this year and will climax today when Judge Thokozile Masipa begins reading her verdict. The 27-year-old sprinter, who is free on bail, has not lived in the house since the killing.

Louwrens, a mining consultant, said the house caught his attention when he was watching the Pistorius trial on television.

"I saw a photo of this house on TV," said the 57-year-old. "It was a nice looking house."

Since then it has been cleaned and Louwrens said his wife was warming to the move.

Ironically, Louwrens, a resident of Boksburg, a city an hour's drive outside Johannesburg, said he bought the Pistorius house in the pursuit of safety.

South Africa is plagued by sky-high rates of crime, including hijackings and burglaries. "I've been around there, you see the kids playing in the streets, some of the people mentioned to me that when they go out they don't even lock," he said, adding: "My family is very important to me."

Silver Woods Estate is "enclosed with a solid, electrified security wall" and regards safety as a "high priority", according to the developers.

"I remember the day that we came to look at stands [plots], I wanted to just come in here and look at the estate, they just flatly refused to let me in," said Tracy, a 38-year-old woman who lives on Pistorius' former street.

She said she bought her house in the estate because it offered such exceptional security services.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Pistorius home a bargain, buyer says
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