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On 3rd Day of Testimony, Pistorius Says Girlfriend Died in His Arms Prosecutor Tries to Rattle Pistorius
(about 1 hour later)
PRETORIA, South Africa — For a third straight day, Oscar Pistorius, the world’s best-known disabled athlete, took the stand at his murder trial on Wednesday, recounting his actions in the moments after he fired four rounds from a handgun through a locked bathroom door, killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. PRETORIA, South Africa — After two tumultuous days in which he gave his account of the night he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp, the Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius on Wednesday was confronted by the man whose mission is to dismantle his story, piece by piece: the state prosecutor, Gerrie Nel.
Mr. Pistorius contends that he thought an intruder had entered his home and that he opened fire for fear of being attacked. But the prosecution says he committed premeditated murder, a charge that carries a minimum jail term of 25 years. Combative, dogged and pugnacious, Mr. Nel is known here as “the pit bull,” and he wasted no time in trying to rattle Mr. Pistorius, who had already appeared considerably shaken by the proceedings in his murder trial.
The state prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, opened a pugnacious cross-examination, challenging an assertion by Mr. Pistorius that he made a mistake and “took Reeva’s life.” “You killed Reeva Steenkamp, didn’t you?” Mr. Nel snapped at Mr. Pistorius. “Say it. Say: ‘yes, I shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp.' ”
“You killed Reeva Steenkamp, didn’t you?” Mr. Nel said. “Say it. Say: yes, I shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp.” In a shocking move that brought gasps from the courtroom, Mr. Nel suddenly displayed a photograph of Ms. Steenkamp’s head after the shooting, with blood and brains spilling from it, and all but ordered Mr. Pistorius to look at it. “Take responsibility for what you’ve done!” he snapped. Mr. Pistorius refused, saying he was “tormented” by the memories of what Ms. Steenkamp’s head felt like after she died, when he cradled her in his arms and sobbed over her lifeless body.
Earlier, Mr. Pistorius had told the court: “I did not intend to kill Reeva or anybody else for that matter.” Mr. Pistorius wept, as he has on numerous occasions since his trial began, and the court took a break while he composed himself.
“I’m fighting for my life,” he said at one point.
Mr. Nel repeatedly asked Mr. Pistorius about the location of two ventilation fans in his bedroom on the night of the killing, seeking to undermine the defense’s contention that the crime scene was contaminated by clumsy police work and other factors.
The detail was important, Mr. Nel told the athlete, because “it will show that you are lying.”
Mr. Pistorius said his memory was not good “but I’m not trying to lie.”
“I can’t change the truth,” he said.
Mr. Pistorius, 27, maintains that the killing was a tragic mistake and that he fired four rounds through a locked bathroom door in the early morning of Feb. 14, 2013, because he was convinced an intruder had broken into his house. But the prosecution says he deliberately killed Ms. Steenkamp, 29, in a fit of rage as the two argued.
Earlier, Mr. Pistorius had told the court: “I did not intend to kill Reeva — or anybody else.”
Describing the scene when he broke down the bathroom door with a cricket bat after having tried to kick it open, Mr. Pistorius said: “I could see she was breathing, struggling to breathe.”Describing the scene when he broke down the bathroom door with a cricket bat after having tried to kick it open, Mr. Pistorius said: “I could see she was breathing, struggling to breathe.”
Pausing between sentences, and coaxed gently by his lawyer, Mr. Pistorius, 27, seemed to struggle to hold back sobs as he described carrying Ms. Steenkamp’s bleeding body. He tried to help Ms. Steenkamp breathe by putting his fingers in her mouth, he said, and placed a hand on her hip to try to staunch the bleeding. Pausing between sentences, and coaxed gently by his lawyer, Mr. Pistorius, 27, struggled to hold back sobs as he described carrying Ms. Steenkamp’s bleeding body down the stairs of his house. He tried to help Ms. Steenkamp breathe by putting his fingers in her mouth, he said, and tried fruitlessly to stanch the bleeding from her hip.
“I just sat there with her and waited for the ambulance to arrive,” he said.“I just sat there with her and waited for the ambulance to arrive,” he said.
But when an ambulance arrived, a paramedic informed him “that Reeva has passed,” he said. “Reeva had already died whilst I was holding her.” Police officers at the scene took photographs of him and told him he was under arrest. But when an ambulance got there, a paramedic informed him “that Reeva has passed,” he said. “Reeva had already died whilst I was holding her.” Police officers at the scene took photographs of him for several hours, he said, and finally told him he was under arrest and took him into custody.
“I asked a policeman if I might wash my hands because the smell of the blood was making me throw up,” he said.“I asked a policeman if I might wash my hands because the smell of the blood was making me throw up,” he said.
As his testimony unfolded, June Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, sat impassively in the courtroom, betraying no emotion. As his testimony unfolded, June Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, sat impassively in the courtroom, staring in front of her.
The court adjourned briefly after Mr. Nel asked Mr. Pistorius if he had heard the term “zombie-stopper,” apparently referring to a type of gun or ammunition. Mr. Nel said he wanted to show a video related to the term, but the defense objected that the video was inadmissible. Then the cross-examination began. The court adjourned briefly after Mr. Nel asked Mr. Pistorius if he had heard the term “zombie-stopper,” apparently referring to a type of gun or ammunition, and the defense and the prosecution tussled over whether Mr. Nel could show a video in which Mr. Pistorius used the expression while at a shooting range.
When the proceedings resumed, the defense said it agreed that the video could be shown. After their argument, the video was broadcast to the court. It showed Mr. Pistorius firing several weapons, including a handgun and a shotgun, and using a watermelon as a target. When the melon was hit and exploded, a voice off camera said the gun had functioned as a “zombie-stopper” and that the watermelon was “softer than brains.”
It showed Mr. Pistorius firing several weapons, including a handgun and a shotgun, and using a watermelon as a target. When the melon was hit and exploded, a voice off camera described the impact as a “zombie-stopper.” “I was shooting at a watermelon with a handgun,” Mr. Pistorius testified. “That was my voice saying those words,” he said, adding that he was “very upset” to hear himself. In any case, he said, he had been referring to zombie brains, not human ones.
“I was shooting at a watermelon with a handgun,” Mr. Pistorius testified. “That was my voice saying those words,” he said, adding that he was “very upset” to hear himself speak them. Mr. Nel asked Mr. Pistorius whether he had been shooting at the watermelon to see the effect of shooting the same high-powered ammunition at a human brain, but Mr. Pistorius repeatedly answered that was not what he meant. Mr. Nel also put it to Mr. Pistorius that what happened to Ms. Steenkamp’s head was the same thing that “happened to the watermelon.”
Mr. Nel asked Mr. Pistorius whether he had been shooting at the watermelon to see the effect of shooting the same high-powered ammunition at a human brain, but Mr. Pistorius refused to be drawn on that suggestion. Mr. Pistorius put his head in his hands and cried.
The prosecutor stunned many in the court when he said that the bullet that struck Ms. Steenkamp in the head had the same explosive effect as the round that hit the melon. He showed a picture of her wounds, with blood and brains spilling from her head. Continuing his cross-examination, Mr. Nel said that parts of Mr. Pistorius’s latest testimony were at odds with the version of events he gave during a bail application shortly after Ms. Steenkamp’s death, when he was in prison and desperately trying to get out.
“I don’t like to look at a picture. I was there,” Mr. Pistorius said, before breaking down in sobs. “My story has never changed,” Mr. Pistorius insisted.
Continuing his cross-examination, Mr. Nel said parts of Mr. Pistorius’s latest testimony were at odds with the version of events he gave during a bail application shortly after Ms. Steenkamp’s death in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013.
“My version never changed,” Mr. Pistorius insisted.