Oldwadge cross-examines Oscar witness
Oscar Pistorius's lawyer questioned whether a woman who heard screaming from the paralympic athlete's house when Reeva Steenkamp was killed had heard other versions of what happened.
FILE PICTURE: Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is seen during his ongoing trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at Pretoria’s North Gauteng High Court, Tuesday, 18 March 2014. Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder, contending that he shot the blonde swimsuit model through a locked bathroom door in his Pretoria home in the belief that an intruder was hiding behind it.The State is arguing that he killed her after the couple had a row.In addition to murder, the State has also charged Pistorius with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act. Picture:Werner Beukes/SAPA/Pool
“You must have heard certain versions of what was alleged to have taken place?” Kenny Oldwadge, for Pistorius, asked Annette Stipp.
He asked her whether she had compared her version of the early morning hours of February 14, with others she may have heard in the media.
“I did not compare versions with my version so I can’t say I agree or disagree with those versions,” Stipp replied.
She said she had not followed media coverage of the case religiously.
“I have not been sitting in front of the TV watching it.”
She was testifying in Pistorius’s trial.
He is accused of the premeditated murder of Steenkamp in his Silver Woods Estate, Pretoria, townhouse on February 14 last year. Pistorius contends he shot her through the locked door of his toilet, thinking she was an intruder.
Stipp’s house is near Pistorius’s in the same townhouse complex.
Stipp, an occupational therapist, earlier told the court she was unable to sleep that morning as she was feeling “flu-ish”.
Oldwadge questioned her about her “level of alertness” that morning, shortly before she heard gunshots while lying in bed, compared to a few minutes later. She said it was the same throughout.
Stipp is married to radiologist Johan Stipp, who testified in the first week of the trial.
Pistorius has been charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp and contraventions of the Firearms Control Act. He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.
On September 30, 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.
– Sapa
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