Johannesburg – The South African Police Service has declined to comment on pictures broadcast by Britain’s Sky News on Friday purportedly showing the bathroom where paralympian Oscar Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The black-and-white photographs show blood on a toilet seat, and a pool of blood on the floor.

The bullet holes Pistorius shot into the bathroom door are marked with stretches of tape, while a panel near the door handle is missing.

The two bullet holes visible in the picture, are situated in the middle of the door, below the height of the handle.

National police spokesperson Brigadier Phuti Setati said on Friday the SA Police Service could not comment on the pictures, because it did not know how Sky News came possess them.

“We don’t want to be distracted by these deliberate tactics. All that we want to do is secure conviction, so we are working throughout and investigating professionally.”

Cellphones confiscated

In April, police confiscated the cellphones of officers working on the Pistorius murder case when it came to light they had photographed him after his arrest.

It was reported at the time that according to a written response by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to a parliamentary question, cellphones were confiscated from 45 police officials.

Boschkop police station management also seized four other official police phones.

The police ministry said disciplinary steps were being taken against the culprits. The phones would be used as evidence.

The former lead investigator in the case, Hilton Botha, reportedly said media houses had offered to pay officers for exclusive pictures of Pistorius after he was arrested for shooting Steenkamp.

A foreign media house reportedly offered a police officer R458 000 for a photograph of the toilet door.

Pistorius has denied murdering Steenkamp, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

The State argued that he killed her following a fight and charged him with premeditated murder.

He was granted bail of R1m by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on 22 February. His next court appearance is on 4 June.

– Sky News report.

– SAPA