PRETORIA – Prosecutor Gerrie Nel yesterday concluded his cross-examination of murder-accused paralympian Oscar Pistorius.
Pistorius is charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on 14 February last year.
He shot her through a locked toilet door. and claims he mistook her for an intruder and fired the four shots by accident.
Meal, screams
Looking sternly at Pistorius, Nel said the court would find that Steenkamp had eaten three hours prior to being shot dead. Pistorius had told the court the couple had eaten hours before.
The arguments that a neighbour claimed to have heard prior to the shootings happened as Steenkamp was eating.
The “blood-curdling” screams that several neighbours claimed to have heard came from Steenkamp. Pistorius had testified that he was the one who was screaming as he tried to break down the door, trying to reach Steenkamp.
Pistorius fired four shots through the locked toilet door knowing that Steenkamp was behind it, Nel said. Pistorius had said he mistook her for an intruder.
Nel also said Steenkamp had run to the toilet, and Pistorius armed himself with the sole purpose of killing her. Pistorius had testified he did not see Steenkamp heading to the toilet. He claimed to have told her to call the police.
The reason for Pistorius being so emotional was due to him being overcome by what he had done, Nel said.
Blame
Earlier, Nel questioned Pistorius on who should take the blame for killing Steenkamp.
“Should we blame Reeva for not telling you she was going to the toilet?” Nel asked.
“No, my lady,” Pistorius answered.
Nel then asked whether government should be blamed for Steenkamp’s death.
When court adjourned for tea, Pistorius’ sister Aimee walked up to the witness-box where she hugged her brother. He smiled at her and wiped an eye using his fingers.
Meanwhile, Pistorius said yesterday that when he broke down the door of the toilet in which Steenkamp had been shot, he heard her breathing.
“I pulled her around onto me and then I heard her breathing, and then I tried to get her up,” Pistorius said during cross examination by prosecutor Nel.
Nel asked him about the position of the magazine rack in the cubicle after he broke into the toilet to get to Steenkamp. Pistorius claimed he heard the rack moving before he fired the shots.
Ballistics expert Captain Chris Mangena previously testified for the State that Steenkamp fell onto the rack after she was shot in the hip.
“I scuffled (sic) around with my legs, which is probably where I kicked the magazine rack,” Pistorius said.
Nel asked him if his kicking of the rack was a memory, or if he thought it happened.
“It’s what I think,” he replied.
– Nampa-Sapa
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