Oscar Pistorius inside the North Gauteng High Court where he is currently on trial for the premeditated murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. – image- citizen-times.com
There was a return to the courthouse this morning after the short break of the weekend. The court activities started off with the defence team led by veteran defence lawyer, Barry Roux cross examining the security guard of the Silverwoods Estate where Oscar’s house is located, Pieter Baba. The huge bone of contention was who had made the call first. According to the defence team, Oscar called the security house first but did not say anything because he was crying.
Barry Roux further informed the court that the defence team had proof of this in the form of Oscar’s phone records, the security company’s outgoing calls record as well as copies of documents from the police. However, despite all this evidence, Pieter Baba stood by his ground to say that he is the one who called Oscar’s house first, adding that if, as the defence suggests, Mr Pistorius had called first and not said anything, he, the security guard would have known that ‘something was wrong’.
Next the legal teams put their heads together to debate the issue of the broadcasting of the pathologist’s evidence. The attending pathologist who had performed the autopsy on Reeva Steenkamp’s body had expressed ethical concerns about the making public of his evidence. He cited, in his submission, the provision of dignity to the departed as well as to the friends and relatives of the deceased.
Professor Saayman testified that Reeva had been shot three times, on the right hip, the right elbow as well as the right temple adding that she would not have drawn much further breath after the temple bullet. His evidence further revealed that Oscar’s gun had Black Talon bullets which ‘penetrate and mushroom’ on impact producing massive damage to the victim. According to the pathologist, Reeva died at three in the morning. He further revealed that there had been food in her stomach which had been eaten about two hours before which scatters Oscar’s contention that they had gone to bed at ten the night before. He confirmed what the police had said that Reeva had been wearing a black sleeveless top and grey Nike shorts.
Also newsworthy was the fact that during the pathologist’s testimony, Oscar was physically and violently sick several times and at some point, the court proceedings had to be stopped and a bucket brought for this purpose. This testifies to how graphic the evidence presented must have been.
