Pretoria, South Africa: Oscar Pistorius’s lawyers start Monday what they said may be the last week of their bid to undermine the prosecution’s case that the Paralympic gold medallist murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp after an argument.
Since prosecutor Gerrie Nel described Pistorius’s testimony last month as “untruthful” and “improbable,” defence attorney Barry Roux has called witnesses who cast doubt on the state’s version of the shooting and portrayed the athlete as emotionally distraught after he shot Steenkamp three times in the bathroom of his house in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital.
Double-amputee Pistorius, 27, has pleaded not guilty to murder and said he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. Nel has portrayed him as a short-tempered gun-lover who shot Steenkamp in a fit of anger. Pistorius has also pleaded not guilty to three separate gun-related charges.
Before the trial adjourned on Friday, Nel tore into defence witness Tom “Wollie” Wolmarans, who compiled a report on how the athlete shot the model on Valentine’s Day last year. Under cross-examination, he said he may have changed his assessment of the incident after speaking to an expert previously called to testify by Pistorius’s lawyers.
Nel also cast doubt on Wolmarans’s choice of materials when he replicated the crime scene, saying his use of paper rather than board would have given a better indication of splintering on human skin.
“Another expert may come and have a different opinion,” Wolmarans told the high court in Pretoria. “You can come to a certain conclusion, but it’s all speculation as to what happened behind that door.”
Roux said on Tuesday he expects to conclude his case this week. The trial, which started on March 3, is being broadcast live on radio and TV.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, who will give the final judgement in the case because South Africa doesn’t have a jury system, could consider a lesser charge of culpable homicide if she rules that the act wasn’t intentional. Pistorius would face a minimum of 25 years in jail if convicted of murder.
Steenkamp was standing when the first bullet broke her hip bone, then she fell on top of a magazine rack in the toilet, according to police ballistics expert Chris Mangena.
The model’s head wounds were consistent with her falling down, and the two abrasions on her back indicated that she had struck a hard, blunt surface, Wolmarans said.
He disagreed with Mangena’s assessment that the back wounds were the result of ricocheting bullet fragments.
Wolmarans said he had met with former police investigator Roger Dixon, who testified about the crime scene last month, for a beer. Dixon was repeatedly challenged by Nel about his qualifications to testify about the crime scene.
“It’s highly improbable that we haven’t had discussions” about the case, Wolmarans said of the meeting with Dixon.
When asked by Nel whether he changed evidence after this, Wolmarans said “it’s a possibility that I’ve change anything in my report but not the things that I have discussed with him.”
He said he wouldn’t take Dixon’s advice on ballistics given he isn’t an expert in this field.
Known as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped prosthetic running blades, Pistorius has been free on 1 million rand (Dh353,000) bail since February last year.
The charges have derailed the running career of the winner of six Paralympic gold medals and cost Pistorius sponsorship deals with Nike, Luxottica Group’s Oakley and Ossur, the Icelandic company that manufacturers the blades he uses.
Pistorius was the first double amputee to compete at the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
He agreed to sell the house where the shooting occurred, Ansie Louw, his real-estate agent said Friday. The property was valued at 5 million rand, according to Pistorius’s bail application statement from February last year.
