Bladerunner Oscar Pistorius has just confirmed to heat that the assault charges against him are being dropped.

“The girl admitted that I had not assaulted her; that she busted the door in and that a part of it then fell on her leg. She had never meant for the whole story to get out of hand like it has,”  Pistorius told heat.

He was meeting with his lawyer straight after, to decide what further steps to take. The police have also apologised for  mishandling the situation, which led to the Paralympian champion spending Saturday night in a police cell.

What was supposed to be a fun spring braai at Pistorius’s home in the Silverlakes golf estate in Pretoria, turned ugly on Saturday when the sprinter intervened in an argument between guests.  Pistorius asked 19-year-old Cassidy Taylor-Memmory to leave, but in the ensuing altercation she returned and started kicking his door, and kicked it so hard that a panel of the door came off and hit her in the leg. She went and laid an assault charge against Pistorius, and he was arrested at home in front of his friends and family.

Police spokesperson Miranda Stolz told Beeld that Taylor-Memmory only reported the incident to the police three hours after it had happened; and had admitted that she had been drinking.

Stolz has admitted that Oscar should never have been behind bars in the first place. “Unfortunately it was a reservist officer who made the call. He says he was just following his training manual,” explains Stolz.

Under South African law, a person can only be arrested if the charge of assault with the intent of grievous bodily harm is laid; which usually means that a weapon was used to attack someone. In this case, where there was no weapon involved, this was a wholly inappropriate charge and he should not have been arrested, nor spent the night in a cell. The charge was changed to common assault on Sunday morning.

“He was released as soon as it became clear that there was a mistake and only issued with a warning. The officer in question did not use his discretion and we have apologised to Oscar,” adds Stolz.

Pistorius is expected to release a full statement this afternoon.