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Pistorius Returns to Court After Harrowing Questions Prosecutor Describes Pistorius as Self-Centered and Bullying
(about 1 hour later)
After a day of intense courtroom confrontation and emotion, Oscar Pistorius returned to the stand for a fourth straight day on Thursday to face new questions from a dogged prosecutor intent on highlighting even the most minute discrepancies in his version of what happened the night he killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. After a day of intense courtroom confrontation and emotion, the athlete Oscar Pistorius returned to the stand for a fourth straight day on Thursday to face new questions from a dogged prosecutor intent on depicting him as narcissistic, self-centered and bullying, so intent on self-gratification that he ignored the feelings of the dead woman’s family.
In painstaking detail, Mr. Pistorius also faced repeated accusations Thursday from the prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, of being a selfish and self-centered person in his relationship with Ms. Steenkamp. “It’s all about I, it’s all about Mr. Pistorius,” the state prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, told the athlete, challenging him to explain why he had used the first day of his testimony on Monday to offer an apology to Ms. Steenkamp’s family. “You never thought about them. You never thought how they would feel,” Mr. Nel said.
“It’s all about I, it’s all about Mr. Pistorius,” Mr. Nel told the athlete, challenging him to explain why he had used the first day of his testimony to offer an apology to Ms. Steenkamp’s family. “You never thought about them. You never thought how they would feel,” Mr. Nel said. “You are not sorry that you killed their daughter,” Mr. Nel said.
“I think it was the right thing to do,” Mr. Pistorius replied. So he had made the apology to make himself feel better, Mr. Nel asked. “I don’t think I could feel better,” the onetime Paralympic champion said. “I am terribly sorry that I took the life of their daughter,” he said. “I’m terribly sorry that I took the life of their daughter,” Mr. Pistorius replied. In the public gallery, June Steenkamp, the victim’s mother, looked on impassively.
In the public gallery, June Steenkamp, the victim’s mother, sat impassively. Going through telephone messages between the couple line by line, Mr. Nel pointed to one in which Mr. Pistorius had mocked her for making “annoying” accents. In one exchange, he told her to stop chewing gum in public.
“You picked on her incessantly,” Mr. Nel said. “It’s all about you,” he said repeatedly. “It’s all about Mr. Pistorius. That is what your relationship was all about.” He added: “Reeva believed you treated her very badly.”
“Apart from ‘I miss you,’ boo hoo hoo, you never wrote a long message saying how you felt about her,” Mr. Nel said. “Your messages were only about you.”
Mr. Pistorius, 27, has denied a charge of premeditated murder, which carries a minimum 25-year jail term, saying he shot Ms. Steenkamp, 29, by mistake, believing an intruder at his home was about to attack him when he fired four rounds from a handgun through a locked bathroom door while she was inside.Mr. Pistorius, 27, has denied a charge of premeditated murder, which carries a minimum 25-year jail term, saying he shot Ms. Steenkamp, 29, by mistake, believing an intruder at his home was about to attack him when he fired four rounds from a handgun through a locked bathroom door while she was inside.
Mr. Pistorius, a double amputee track star who competes on scythe-like prosthetic blades and who is the world’s best-known disabled athlete, faced the state prosecutor, faced Mr. Nel for the first time on Wednesday. The prosecutor’s tactics have earned him the nickname “the pit bull.” Mr. Pistorius, a double amputee track star who competes on scythe-like prosthetic blades and who is the world’s best-known disabled athlete, faced Mr. Nel for the first time on Wednesday. The prosecutor’s tactics have earned him the nickname “the pit bull.”
The trial, in the South African capital, Pretoria, is being broadcast live, although Mr. Pistorius is kept off-camera under an earlier court ruling.The trial, in the South African capital, Pretoria, is being broadcast live, although Mr. Pistorius is kept off-camera under an earlier court ruling.
From the start, Mr. Nel set a pugnacious tone, challenging Mr. Pistorius to take responsibility for the killing, goading him in an attempt to undermine his composure and producing video images that showed him blasting a head-size watermelon with high-powered ammunition.From the start, Mr. Nel set a pugnacious tone, challenging Mr. Pistorius to take responsibility for the killing, goading him in an attempt to undermine his composure and producing video images that showed him blasting a head-size watermelon with high-powered ammunition.
Then, in a move that brought gasps to the courtroom, Mr. Nel taunted Mr. Pistorius with a photograph of the bloodied, shot-open head of Ms. Steenkamp.Then, in a move that brought gasps to the courtroom, Mr. Nel taunted Mr. Pistorius with a photograph of the bloodied, shot-open head of Ms. Steenkamp.
“That’s it — have a look, Mr. Pistorius!” the prosecutor said as Mr. Pistorius sat, stunned, in the witness box, seeming to crumple in on himself. “I know you don’t want to, because you don’t want to take responsibility, but it’s time that you look at it. Take responsibility for what you’ve done, Mr. Pistorius.”“That’s it — have a look, Mr. Pistorius!” the prosecutor said as Mr. Pistorius sat, stunned, in the witness box, seeming to crumple in on himself. “I know you don’t want to, because you don’t want to take responsibility, but it’s time that you look at it. Take responsibility for what you’ve done, Mr. Pistorius.”
But the runner refused to look. “I’m tormented by what I saw and felt that night,” he said. “As I picked Reeva up, my fingers touched her head. I remember. I don’t have to look at a picture. I was there.”But the runner refused to look. “I’m tormented by what I saw and felt that night,” he said. “As I picked Reeva up, my fingers touched her head. I remember. I don’t have to look at a picture. I was there.”
After the hours of cross-examination, Mr. Pistorius seemed drained but Mr. Nel left him in no doubt that there was more to come. “I’m not going to go away,” the prosecutor told the athlete.After the hours of cross-examination, Mr. Pistorius seemed drained but Mr. Nel left him in no doubt that there was more to come. “I’m not going to go away,” the prosecutor told the athlete.
True to his word, Mr. Nel dwelled at length on Thursday on social media messages between Mr. Pistorius and Ms. Steenkamp, returning repeatedly to the assertion that, in his relationship with Ms. Steenkamp, “it’s all about Mr. Pistorius.” True to his word, Mr. Nel dwelled at length on Thursday on social media messages between Mr. Pistorius and Ms. Steenkamp, returning repeatedly to the assertion that, in his relationship with Ms. Steenkamp, “It’s all about Mr. Pistorius.”
The athlete said that, in their messages, he never told Ms. Steenkamp that he loved her. “I never got the opportunity to tell Reeva I loved her,” Mr. Pistorius acknowledged. He also said he accused Reeva of flirting with another man. “Part of me was jealous and insecure,” he said. “Part of me was jealous and insecure,” Mr. Pistorius said.
Mr. Nel was apparently seeking to neutralize the effort of earlier testimony in which Mr. Pistorius depicted his relationship with Ms. Steenkamp, a law graduate, model and budding reality TV star, as warm and loving. Instead, reading line-by-line from messages taken from their cellphones, he depicted Mr. Pistorius as a man who found fault with Ms. Steenkamp and persistently blamed others for mishaps.
Mr. Nel said he found the words “I love you” only twice in text messages on Ms. Steenkamp’s phone, both times addressed to her mother.
“Never to you and you never to her,” the prosecutor told Mr. Pistorius, accusing him of treating her badly, then apologizing.
Apart from the murder charge, Mr. Pistorius also faces charges related to possessing firearms, and the prosecution has sought to portray him as reckless and trigger-happy. In one case, he is accused of shooting a gun out of the open sunroof of a car. In another, he is accused of firing a handgun in a busy restaurant.
Mr. Nel challenged Mr. Pistorius on the incident at the restaurant when Mr. Pistorius held a gun that discharged with customers, including children, nearby. Mr. Pistorius insisted that he didn’t pull the trigger, which Mr. Nel said was impossible. “This is such an amazing incident. You never touched the trigger, and the gun went off,” Mr. Nel said.
“It was a stupid thing to do. It was negligent,” Mr. Pistorius said.
Mr. Pistorius told the court that he was a gun enthusiast who had grown up in a family where his parents had guns. He had applied for a license to collect firearms.