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

The trial of Oscar Pistorius continued into the twelfth day today at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. Oscar, who is also known as the blade runner is standing accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp on the morning of Valentine’s day last year after a heated argument. He denies premeditating the murder but admits that he shot her after having mistaken her for an intruder.

The case has seen the testimonies of several witnesses which include the police officers who arrived first at the scene of the crime, Oscar’s friend who told the court that Oscar once fired a gun in a crowded restaurant and through the sunroof of a car as well as Oscar’s former girlfriend who tried to give the impression that Oscar was an obsessive lover who slept with a loaded gun under his pillow.

Day twelve started late because of the late arrival of the key witness for the day, Barend van Staden who was responsible for taking photos at the scene. The defence attorney, Barry Roux started his questioning by establishing that van Staden was not alone when he took photos at the crime scene. The Warrant Officer had earlier testified that he had not seen the other crime scene photographer, Colonel Motha even though, as Roux showed in court, their photos were taken in the same room at precisely the same time. Van Staden was less confident that he had been on Monday when he took the stand for the first time and could not discount the times on the other photographer’s photos.

He however stuck to his guns on the fact that he had moved the items at the scene when he was replying to questioning by Gerrie Nel the prosecutor. When asked by the prosecutor how he could have missed the other police officer in the same room, all he could say was that he was alone in the bathroom when he took the photos. Warrant Officer Barend van Staden has been a police officer for 21 years, twelve of which he has worked as a photographer with the Local Criminal Records Centre.

After he was released from the witness box, Nel requested the court to adjourn to allow him to start Wednesday with the cross examination of blood splatter expert, Colonel Ian van der Nest.