'Black woman' judge to preside over Pistorius trial in March

A woman judge has reportedly been appointed to hear the case of Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius, who has been charged with the murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, which re-opens in early March.

Pistorius is set to go on trial on March 3 this year for the 2013 Valentine's Day murder of Steenkamp and will also answer charges for discharging a firearm on two separate occasions before the model's death.

According to Sport24, a judiciary spokesperson said that High Court judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa, who was only the second black woman to be admitted to the bench during the apartheid era, would preside at the trial.

The report mentioned that the double-amputee 'Blade Runner' shocked the world when he admitted shooting Steenkamp, although he denied murder and said that he shot her through a locked bathroom door in his upmarket Pretoria home because he thought she was an intruder.