Pretoria - Murder-accused Oscar Pistorius was hugged by a woman as he entered the North Gauteng High Court on Monday morning.
Members of a Facebook group set up in support of the athlete waited on the pavement with white balloons for him to arrive. There are currently six such pages.
When he stepped out of a silver Land Rover to walk the gauntlet of reporters and onlookers, the photographers shouted for the supporters to get their white balloons out of their shots.
Scribbled on the balloons in black marker were the words "Ozzie" and "We love you Ozzie". A woman held a piece of paper with a black and white picture of Pistorius and the words "Ozzie we love you and pray for you".
'We love you Oscar'
Then a woman ran up to him and threw her arms around him. There were shouts of "we love you Oscar, we are here for you".
Pistorius stood frozen for several seconds until his security detail pried her off him. There was applause as Pistorius's lawyers, including Barry Roux, SC, arrived.
A woman in a red jersey stood clutching a CD with his face on the cover, a book with the title "God se Liefdesbriewe aan Jou" (God's love letters to you) and a small trophy with the word Oscar on the base.
One of the members of the group, Rika Bothma, was holding a small white cross with the word "geloof" (faith) on it.
"We are here to show support for Oscar, to show him that the people still care. He made us all proud. He represented South Africa at the Olympics and the Paralympics. I've got so much respect for what he did."
Bothma said she did not follow the trial closely "because it's so negative".
'None of us is without sin'
"I'm very disappointed to see how people have turned their backs on him now that this has happened."
If Pistorius was found guilty she would still support him.
"None of us is without sin," she said.
When Pistorius arrived inside court GD he sat quietly by himself until he was joined by his sister Aimee. Monday is expected to see prosecutorGerrie Nel continue his cross-examination of the athlete who took the stand last Monday.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria house on 14 February last year.
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