Pistorius arrives for court appearance

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius arrived at the Pretoria Magistrate's Court shortly before 9am on Friday to be formally charged with murder.

With a jacket over his head and a policeman covering his face with a book, and television cameras and photographers surging towards him, he was rushed into the building.

The court session was expected to start at 10am. He would apply for bail. The State said on Thursday it would oppose this. Court C itself, where he expected to appear, was packed.

Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law graduate from Port Elizabeth, was shot dead in Pistorius's home in the Silver Woods Country Estate, in Pretoria, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

At first it was reported that it was an accidental shooting, he having mistaken her for a robber. Police later have distanced themselves from that information.

Pistorius spent Thursday night in police custody.

Motorists outside the court wanted to know where Pistorius was, shouting at journalists: "Where is Oscar?"

-SAPA