Oscar Pistorius Trial Update: The double-amputee athlete will be facing two additional gun charges when he goes on trial for murder next year for shooting his supermodel girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a South African National Prosecuting Authority said reported CNN.

The gun-related charges have been made against the Olympian even before the shooting, where he is accused of firing a gun in public space on two separate occasions. CNN reported that according to legal analysts, the move was made so they can characterize Oscar Pistorius as a trigger-happy and irresponsible gun owner.

The charges have been transferred from South Gauteng jurisdiction to where the murder trial is being held in the North Gauteng. The move was made so that “all charges against Pistorius can be heard at the same place at the same time in front of the same judge,” Nathi Mcube of the National Prosecuting Authority told CNN.

The state has indicted the world-renowned athlete on a premeditated murder charge and could face a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted of the crime.

The move could backfire if the gun-related charges makes it seem less likely that Oscar shot Reeva deliberately, Kelly Phelps said, a CNN legal analyst and lecturer in the law faculty of the University of Cape Town.

The gun-related offenses, which will be prosecuted under South Africa’s Firearms Control Act, date back before the death of Reeva but was not previously acted on, CNN reported.

The global media site reports that the fact the prosecuting authority of the country is pursuing the charges now adds weigh to the idea that prosecutors are seeking to create a negative “character picture” of the athlete, Phelps said.

Oscar Pistorius, known by many as “Blade Runner” for the special prostheses he used for sprinting, admitted to shooting Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day. He has consistently claimed that she mistook the supermodel for a burglar and that it was an accident.

The incident has since been on the glare of the media spotlight that at one point a South African judge warned that the accused is going through “trial by media” by all the coverage.