Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius crushed his girlfriend's skull with a cricket bat before shooting her dead, police have told her family.
Details of the post-mortem examination of South African model Reeva Steenkamp were withheld from last week's bail application hearing.
But grieving relatives who saw her body before Tuesday's cremation in Port Elizabeth described horrific injuries from the cricket bat, and entry wounds from 9mm bullets fired by Pistorius.
They were also briefed about the model's death by police and lawyers from the state prosecutor's office.
In a sworn affidavit read to the bail hearing in Pretoria magistrates' court last week, Pistorius claimed that he used the bat to break down the toilet door after the shooting, saying he had not realised his girlfriend was in the bathroom.
The bloodstained bat, which is currently being examined by a police forensics team, will be key evidence
when Pistorius goes on trial for premeditated murder.
The 'Blade Runner' – who has previously boasted about having a cricket bat, pistol and machine gun at home to defend himself against intruders – claims the bat became blood-spattered at the scene.
Last week the prosecution did not mention any details about the bat and the role they believe it played in Reeva's death, opting not to disclose their case against Pistorius. But to secure bail, Pistorius's legal team had to detail his defence, which included why he had a blood-spattered cricket bat in his possession on the fatal night.
