An emotional Oscar Pistorius has started his
testimony at his murder trial by apologising to the family of his girlfriend
Reeva Steenkamp. In a trembling voice, he said he was
"trying to protect" her and said he could not imagine their pain. Mr
Pistorius said he suffered "terrible nightmares" and often woke up
smelling Ms Steenkamp's blood. Prosecutors say he killed her in February 2013
after an argument. He says he mistook her for an intruder.
The Paralympic athlete told Ms
Steenkamp's relatives that there "hasn't been a moment since this tragedy
happened that I haven't thought about your family". "I wake up every
morning and you're the first people I think of, the first people I pray for. I
can't imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that I've caused you
and your family.
"I was simply trying to protect
Reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night she felt loved. "I've
tried to put my words on paper many, many times to write to you. But no words
will ever suffice." In the packed Pretoria courtroom, Ms Steenkamp's
mother, June, sat stony-faced while he spoke. Mr Pistorius said he is taking
anti-depressants and sleeping pills.
"I'm scared to sleep, I have
terrible nightmares, I can smell blood and wake up terrified," he said. He
added that he never wanted to handle a gun again. The trial in Pretoria was
delayed for a week after one of the assessors assisting the judge fell ill. Under
South African law, there is no jury system and two assessors, normally lawyers
or retired magistrates, help the judge reach a decision in serious cases.
Defence lawyer Barry Roux said he
will call 14 to 17 witnesses in his case to testify on "ballistics, urine
emptying, damage to the toilet door, sound, and disability and
vulnerability." Mr Botha, a private pathologist who said he has carried
out about 25,000 autopsies, was asked about gastric emptying and calculating Ms
Steenkamp's time of death.
Earlier in the trial, the state
called forensic pathologist Gert Saayman who said vegetable matter in Ms
Steenkamp's stomach suggested she had eaten around two hours prior to her
death, which contradicted Mr Pistorius' version of events. Mr Botha disputed
this conclusion, saying that determining the time of death through gastric
emptying is guesswork, calling it a "highly controversial and inexact
science".
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was fierce in
his cross-examination of Mr Botha and sought to suggest that his evidence was
unreliable since he did not attend Ms Steenkamp's autopsy and worked from
photographs. The pathologist accepted that he was "not a
ballistician" after appearing to contradict the state's account of the
sequence of shots that killed Ms Steenkamp.
But he insisted he was not there to "win the case for
either the defence or the prosecution" after being accused by Mr Nel of
making his findings fit with the defence case. "I'm here to assist the
court," Mr Botha said. Mr Pistorius held his head in his hands and sobbed
loudly as Ms Steenkamp's injuries were discussed.
The trial has already heard 15 days of prosecution-led
testimony, which has relied on accounts from neighbours and specialist
ballistics experts, as well forensic and mobile phone evidence. One neighbour,
Michelle Burger, told the court she was awoken by a woman's "terrible
screams" followed by gun shots. This could be a decisive week for Mr
Pistorius, says the BBC's Africa correspondent Andrew Harding. The athlete aims
to convince the court that the screams were his, and that he shot Ms Steenkamp
through a closed toilet door because he had mistaken her for an intruder.
Defendants who choose to testify are the first defence witnesses
in South Africa but Mr Botha was allowed to testify first because of a family
illness. The defence is also likely to address key questions, including
allegations that Mr Pistorius was reckless with guns and in not checking the
whereabouts of his girlfriend before he opened fire. Ms Steenkamp, a model,
reality TV celebrity and law graduate, was hit by four bullets while in the
toilet cubicle of Mr Pistorius' home in Pretoria on 14 February 2013,
Valentine's Day. Mr Pistorius is a double amputee who holds six Paralympic
medals and competed in the 2012 Olympic Games.
If found guilty, the 27-year-old - dubbed the "blade
runner" because of the prosthetic limbs he wore to race - could face life
imprisonment.
Source: BBC
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