Pistorius, who broke down in sobs at today's hearing when Steenkamp's name was mentioned, became an inspiration to millions when he became the first double amputee to run against able-bodied athletes at last year's Olympics.

But his career has been put on hold since the shooting, forcing him to cancel races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May. Pistorius's heavyweight legal team rejected claims that the killing was premeditated. "We submit it's not even a murder. There's no concession that it's murder," said lawyer Barry Roux. Roux challenged the claim that Pistorius put on his prostheses before shooting and argued the runner believed the person in the bathroom was an intruder. "I will put before court case after case where husbands through accident shot wives... Believing it was an intruder," said Roux. "Is that now preplanned murder?" Roux also claimed Pistorius had broken down the door to help Steenkamp, who had been going out with the athlete since late last year. Magistrate Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder for the purposes of bail. Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked with Steenkamp's race horse trainer father, said Pistorius should not be freed before the trial. "He's a danger to the public. He'll be a danger to witnesses, he must stay in jail, they mustn't release him." In Port Elizabeth, tearful friends and family said goodbye to Steenkamp, whose cloth-draped coffin with white flowers laid on top was carried into a chapel in the southeastern coastal city where she grew up. "It's kind of only sinking in now that I'm actually here, that she's really gone," said Bongiwe Gaxambaa, one of Steenkamp's classmates at a local private Catholic school. (AFP) PDS SHN 02191859 NNNN