Roux asks about effect of rapid shots – Oscar Trial
The effect of several rapid gunshots on a body was raised by Oscar Pistorius's lawyer in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Barry Roux, lawyer for Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius, gestures during the trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Wednesday, 5 March 2014. Pistorius is on trial for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his suburban Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year. He says he mistook her for an intruder.Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko/Pool
Barry Roux told pathologist Prof Gert Saayman, who was in the witness box, he wanted to understand the trauma on a body by shots fired in quick succession.
Saayman said shots fired into a person’s hip or arm could cause a fight or flight response, but would not affect cognitive functions.
Saayman said to questioning from prosecutor Gerrie Nel that he estimated he had performed between 10,000 and 15,000 medico-legal post mortem examinations.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year. She was shot in the arm, hip and head.
He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.
He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.
In September 2010 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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