Pistorius to sell Pretoria home to pay mounting legal fees
Costs mount as his murder trail continues
Oscar Pistorius plans to sell the upmarket US$460,000 Pretoria house where he shot dead his girlfriend last year to cover the legal fees for his murder trial.
"It has become necessary to sell Mr Pistorius' home in the Silver Woods Country Estate in Pretoria in order for him to raise the necessary funds to cover his increasing legal costs," his lawyer Brian Webber said yesterday.
"This is due to the unexpected extension of the trial beyond the initial three-week period for which it was originally set down."
Estate agent Ansie Louw, who is handling the sale, said the house would be sold in a closed bid, starting at five million rand (HK$3.54 million).
The Paralympic athlete has been paying his own legal fees since he shot dead Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. The costs - reportedly as high as US$9,000 a day - are said to include at least three full-time lawyers in court, ballistics and forensics experts as well as an American crime scene reconstruction company.
Since the shooting Pistorius has been living at his uncle's house in Pretoria.