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Prosecutor Describes Pistorius as a Self-Centered Bully Prosecutor Describes Pistorius as a Self-Centered Bully
(about 5 hours later)
The double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius returned to the stand for a fourth straight day on Thursday to face new questions from a prosecutor intent on depicting him as a narcissistic, self-centered bully who routinely berated the girlfriend he killed and who recklessly carried a loaded gun everywhere he went. Oscar Pistorius, the South African athlete accused of murdering his girlfriend, faced new questions on Thursday from a dogged prosecutor intent on depicting him as a narcissistic, self-centered bully who routinely berated her and recklessly carried a loaded gun everywhere he went.
“It’s all about ‘I’, it’s all about Mr. Pistorius,” the state prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, told the court, challenging Mr. Pistorius to explain why he had waited months, until the first day of his testimony this week, 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 Mr. Pistorius,” the pugnacious state prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, repeatedly told the judge and observers gathered in the courtroom in Pretoria, South Africa, where the murder trial is being held. Referring to Mr. Pistorius’s girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, he added, “Reeva believed you treated her very badly.”
“You are not sorry that you killed their daughter,” he continued. The televised trial has offered two starkly competing narratives of the world’s most famous disabled athlete. In the one, Mr. Pistorius, 27, a double-amputee Paralympian, is a loving boyfriend who, vulnerable without his prosthetic legs, accidentally shot Ms. Steenkamp, 29, from outside a locked bathroom door in his Pretoria home as he tried to fend off what he believed were intruders. In the other, he is a temperamental and gun-loving hothead who killed Ms. Steenkamp in a violent rage after an argument, and then dissembled to cover his tracks.
“I’m terribly sorry that I took the life of their daughter,” Mr. Pistorius replied. In the courthouse gallery, June Steenkamp, the victim’s mother, looked on impassively. On Thursday, Mr. Nel, whose aggressive style has earned him the nickname Pit Bull, sought to puncture Mr. Pistorius’s testimony that his relationship with Ms. Steenkamp, a law school graduate and reality TV star, was loving.
Mr. Nel also sought to poke holes in the narrative of events presented by Mr. Pistorius, who has depicted his relationship with Ms. Steenkamp, a law graduate, model and budding reality TV star, as warm and loving. Reading line by line from messages sent from their cellphones, the prosecutor characterized Mr. Pistorius as a man who ridiculed Ms. Steenkamp and who persistently blamed others for mishaps. During an earlier cross-examination, he had reduced Mr. Pistorius to tears by showing the court a video of Mr. Pistorius shooting a watermelon and causing it to explode and then juxtaposing that with a photograph of Mr. Steenkamp’s bloodied head, with her brains pouring out.
In one message read to the court, Mr. Pistorius mocked Ms. Steenkamp for speaking in “annoying” accents. In another, he told her to stop chewing gum in public. Ms. Steenkamp, meanwhile, objected to Mr. Pistorius playing a rap song by Kendrick Lamar, apparently making a reference to the song’s lyrics, which include an expletive and the refrain “don’t kill my vibe.” Mr. Nel is revered for his toughness in his native South Africa, where he has been a prosecutor for three decades. In 2008, he was arrested on trumped-up fraud charges by 20 officers while investigating a former national police commissioner, according to accounts in the South African media. The charges were eventually dropped, and he went on to win a corruption conviction against the commissioner, in part by rattling him with an endless barrage of verbal attacks and questions.
“You picked on her incessantly,” Mr. Nel said. Using what appeared to be similar tactics on Thursday, Mr. Nel read out cellphone text messages, including an exchange in which Mr. Pistorius mocked Ms. Steenkamp for speaking in “annoying” accents. In one episode, he told her to stop chewing gum in public. In another, Mr. Nel said, Mr. Steenkamp objected to Mr. Pistorius’s playing a rap song whose lyrics include an expletive and the words “Don’t Kill My Vibe.”
“It’s all about Mr. Pistorius,” he continued. “That is what your relationship was all about.” He added, “Reeva believed you treated her very badly.” He asked Mr. Pistorius why a review of text messages had not yielded a single exchange of “I love you” between them. “I never got the opportunity to tell Reeva that I loved her,” Mr. Pistorius replied wistfully.
“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 has denied a charge of premeditated murder, which carries a minimum jail term of 25 years. He says he shot Ms. Steenkamp by mistake.
Mr. Pistorius, 27, has denied a charge of premeditated murder, which carries a minimum jail term of 25 years. He says that he shot Ms. Steenkamp, 29, by mistake when he fired four rounds from a handgun through a locked bathroom door, believing there was an intruder in his home who was about to attack him. Mr. Nel returned to the day of the killing, Feb. 14, 2013, challenging Mr. Pistorius’s argument that he had acted in self-defense. He said it was inconceivable that Mr. Pistorius had not seen Ms. Steenkamp get out of bed and go to the bathroom before he shot her. “You see, Mr. Pistorius, your version is a lie.”
Mr. Pistorius, who competes on scythe-like prosthetic blades and is the world’s best-known disabled athlete, faced the prosecutor for the first time on Wednesday, in what became an emotional and acrimonious day in court. Mr. Nel’s tactics have earned him the nickname “the pit bull.” Mr. Pistorius, appearing far more composed than he was during previous testimony, stood by his version of the night’s events: he had assumed that Ms. Steenkamp was still in bed when he drew his gun.
On Thursday, the prosecutor challenged Mr. Pistorius’s argument that he had acted in self-defense, to fend off intruders, when he fired four times through the bathroom door. There had been no intruders, Mr. Nel said, no ladder on the side of the house, nor an imminent threat as Mr. Pistorius claimed. “We know for a fact you had no reason to shoot,” he said. Earlier, the prosecutor asked Mr. Pistorius to explain why he had waited months to offer an apology to Ms. Steenkamp’s family, as he did on the first day of his testimony this week. The trial is being heard by a judge and two officials known as assessors; there are no jury trials in South Africa.
“It was an accident,” Mr. Pistorius replied. Apart from the murder charge, Mr. Pistorius also faces charges related to firearms possession, and on Thursday the prosecution sought to portray him as a trigger-happy gun enthusiast whose loaded weapon was never far away, even when he was swimming. 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 when there were children nearby.
From the start of his cross-examination, Mr. Nel has set a pugnacious tone, challenging Mr. Pistorius to take responsibility for the killing, seeking to undermine the defendant’s composure and producing video images that showed the athlete blasting a watermelon the size of a head with high-powered ammunition. When questioned about the episode at the restaurant, Mr. Pistorius said he had not pulled the trigger, although he conceded that the gun had gone off. Mr. Nel shot back sarcastically that his account was a “miracle.”
In a move that brought gasps to the courtroom on Wednesday, Mr. Nel taunted Mr. Pistorius with a photograph of the bloodied, shot-open head of Ms. Steenkamp. Mr. Nel also questioned Mr. Pistorius as to why he kept a loaded gun and ammunition in his bedside table rather than storing it securely in a safe in his home.
“That’s it — have a look, Mr. Pistorius!” the prosecutor said as the athlete sat, stunned and appearing diminished, in the witness box. “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.” Mr. Pistorius replied that he kept a loaded gun at all times because of fears for his personal safety.
The runner refused to look. At one point during his testimony, Mr. Nel snickered. That prompted a rare interjection from Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa, who seemed to be addressing the prosecutor and the gallery but whose comments could be heard far and wide, as the trial has become a global spectacle.
Mr. Pistorius also faces charges related to firearms possession. The prosecution has sought to portray him as a trigger-happy gun enthusiast whose loaded weapon was ever-present, whether he was driving, swimming with friends or sleeping at home. He is described as having shot a gun out of the open sunroof of a car one time. In a separate episode, his handgun went off in a busy restaurant where there were children nearby.
When questioned about the events at the restaurant, in Johannesburg, Mr. Pistorius said that he had not pulled the trigger, although he conceded that the gun had gone off. Mr. Nel responded sarcastically that the account was a “miracle,” noting that a police expert had testified that the gun could not have fired unless someone had pulled the trigger. “You fired that gun,” the prosecutor said. “You are lying.”
Mr. Nel told the court that Mr. Pistorius had tried to cover up the incident, and had asked Ms. Steenkamp not to discuss it with the news media.
Mr. Pistorius admitted that he had made a mistake at the time. “It was a stupid thing to do. It was negligent,” he said.
Mr. Nel also questioned Mr. Pistorius about why he kept a loaded gun and ammunition in his bedside table, including on the day of Ms. Steenkamp’s death, rather than storing them securely in a safe. The prosecutor pointed out that the athlete had also broken the law by storing ammunition for his father.
Mr. Pistorius replied that he kept a loaded gun at all times because of fears for his personal safety. “I carried my firearm wherever I am, my lady,” Mr. Pistorius told the judge, Thokozile Matilda Masipa.
The prosecutor called him “negligent.”
The athlete described himself as a gun enthusiast and said that he had grown up in a house with weapons.
At one point during his testimony, Mr. Nel snickered. That prompted a rare intervention from Judge Masipa, who appeared to be addressing the prosecutor and the gallery but whose comments could be heard far and wide, as the trial is being followed around the world.
“You possibly think this is entertainment,” the judge said. “It is not.”“You possibly think this is entertainment,” the judge said. “It is not.”