I will break your legs - Blade Runner

Oscar Pistorius accidentally fired a gun shot in a busy Melrose Arch restaurant in Johannesburg in January, narrowly missing a friend's foot, according to a report. File photo: Reuters

Oscar Pistorius accidentally fired a gun shot in a busy Melrose Arch restaurant in Johannesburg in January, narrowly missing a friend's foot, according to a report. File photo: Reuters

Published Nov 21, 2012

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Johannesburg - Oscar Pistorius returned from the London Olympic games to find that his girlfriend had allegedly cheated on him. Enraged by jealousy, he allegedly threatened to break the legs of the other man involved.

The threats reportedly became so intense that a charge of defamation was laid against the man known as Blade Runner. He in turn has laid a charge of intimidation with the Hawks against former soccer player and Supersport presenter Marc Batchelor, a friend of the man he accuses of being involved with his girlfriend.

The whole saga started when Pistorius allegedly confronted coal mining millionaire and Clifton Shores TV producer Quinton van der Burgh in a VIP room at the Kyalami racetrack soon after he returned from the Olympics.

Pistorius was said to be furious about the alleged infidelity of an unnamed 18-year-old woman with Van der Burgh while he was in London.

According to official sources who cannot be named, Pistorius approached Van der Burgh and swore at him about his relationship with the woman.

At the time, Van der Burgh was sitting with numerous businessmen who invest in his companies and was embarrassed by what happened.

He then laid a charge of intimidation against the athlete.

But according to friends of Van der Burgh, the animosity between the two men escalated and Van der Burgh received numerous SMSes threatening him.

Batchelor – who is friends with Brett Kebble murderer Mikey Schultz and who lost his job at Supersport a few years ago for getting involved in fights – heard about what had happened a few days later and began defending Van der Burgh. The two men exchanged threats via SMS during which Pistorius is alleged to have told Batchelor he would break his legs.

A charge of intimidation was laid against Batchelor after he allegedly threatened Pistorius in return.

On Tuesday, Pistorius and Batchelor met with the Hawks to discuss “an inquiry” police were launching into the charge of intimidation. Police were allegedly so blown away to have the Blade Runner in their office, that he had to stay and sign numerous autographs.

Sporting a mohawk and limping, Batchelor – who played, for among others, Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows – refused to say whether charges had been laid against him.

When asked if he had threatened Pistorius, he replied: “No, there’s nothing like that. I had a meeting, that’s all. I don’t even know the oke. I met him for the first time today.”

His attorney Saleem Ebrahim said his client has done nothing wrong and they were dealing with the matter.

Pistorius too refused to comment. “This is not something I want to talk about,” he said.

Van der Burgh was equally tight-lipped, only saying there were charges of defamation involved and he could not comment.

“I deal with big projects so I need to keep a low profile.”

He did admit he was scared for his life and was adamant the unnamed woman was not Pistorius’s girlfriend. “This is not his girlfriend, let’s get that right,” he said.

Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko said they were looking into the matter.

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The Star

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