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Reeva scared of Oscar – state

Reeva Steenkamp was not afraid of an intruder but was scared of her paralympian boyfriend Oscar Pistorius the night she was shot dead, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Friday.


“She wasn’t scared of anything but you. She wasn’t scared of an intruder, she was scared of you,” prosecutor Gerrie Nel told Pistorius during cross-examination.

“If she was scared she would not have been in front of the door.”

Nel said Steenkamp was standing in front of the toilet door facing Pistorius because she was speaking to him.

Pistorius has been charged with murdering Steenkamp. He shot her through a locked toilet door of his Pretoria home on February 14 last year.

He says he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder.

Pistorius has pleaded not guilty and in his plea statement denied he had argued with her shortly before the shooting.

On Friday, the court heard that Pistorius thought he had to be careful on the night because his life was in danger.

“I never said I went there [to the bathroom] to shoot someone,” Pistorius said.

However, Nel asked: “If you did not go there to shoot someone what did you go there to do?”

The athlete responded: “My intention was to make the person flee.”

He said Steenkamp did not scream because she had been in a similar incident and afterwards did not speak to anyone for a day afterwards.

The court heard that Steenkamp did not shout while Pistorius shot four times through the bathroom door.

Nel asked: “Are you sure, Mr Pistorius, that Reeva did not scream after the first shot? Are you sure, Mr Pistorius?”

Pistorius gave a long silence and sighed, sat back in his chair.

Then he said: “At no point did Reeva shout out or scream. I just wish she would’ve let me know she was there.”

Pistorius added: “I don’t think I would have heard her, with a gunshot that went off, my ears were ringing.”

He said the gunshot was so loud “I couldn’t hear my own voice”.

Asked repeatedly, Pistorius said: “I didn’t hear her scream after the first shot, My Lady. My ears were ringing.”

The trial was adjourned to Monday.

Sapa

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Gerrie Nel Oscar Trial Reeva Steenkamp