Oscar Trial: Expert unable to produce files
The police forensic analyst testifying in Oscar Pistorius's murder trial was unable to produce case files of tests he had previously done, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday.
Police forensic expert Colonel Johannes Vermeulen holds a cricket bat while standing next to the door of murder accused Oscar Pistorius’ toilet during cross-examination at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday, 12 March 2014. Pistorius, a double amputee, has said he used the bat to break down a locked toilet door through which he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year.He is on trial for premeditated murder. Pistorius has denied guilt, saying he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA/Pool
Colonel Johannes Vermeulen said it had not been possible for him to get access to the case files.
By the time court adjourned on Wednesday, the files had already been locked up, he told Barry Roux, SC, for Pistorius, after a tea adjournment. Roux requested the files on Wednesday afternoon.
This was after he began honing in on Vermeulen’s expertise when he was testifying about the angles of a cricket bat hitting the door Pistorius said he had to break down to free his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp after he fatally shot her.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Steenkamp in his home on February 14 last year. He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Sapa
