(CNN) -- A year to the day after he killed his girlfriend, South African "blade runner" Oscar Pistorius broke his silence Friday, describing her death as a "devastating accident." The double amputee Olympic star is charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a model and law school graduate. He has never denied killing the woman he calls the love of his life on Valentine's Day last year. But he maintains that he mistook her for a home invader when he shot her in the bathroom of his upscale home in Pretoria. Since being freed on bail, he has remained largely out of the spotlight. He released a statement Friday, the anniversary of her death, saying he will carry the "complete trauma" of the day forever.
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Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius goes on trial next month
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He is charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp
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Pistorius says he mistook her for a home invader
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"No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident," he says
"All we are looking for is closure and to know that our daughter did not suffer on that tragic @placeholder," the family said in a prepared statement.