Blood spatter expert called to testify – Oscar Trial

Colonel Ian van der Nest said to questioning from prosecutor Gerrie Nel he had been with the police forensics laboratory for 20 years.

He had a BSc degree and an honours in biochemistry from Rhodes University.

He was asked to attend Reeva Steenkamp’s post mortem.

“I made observational notes and assisted in measuring the wounds,” he said, speaking clearly.

Pistorius shot Steenkamp through the locked toilet door in his Silver Woods Country Estate townhouse in the early hours of February 14 last year. He has claimed he mistook her for an intruder.

“My interest was to address several investigative questions posed to me, including the appearance of blunt force trauma on the deceased’s body… blue discolouration of the eyes, extensive staining of the scene, and staining of the cricket bat.”

Questioned by Nel on two blood drops on an armchair on the ground floor of Pistorius’s home, Van der Nest said: “It was an artefact from an arterial spurt that had arisen from above.”

The paralympic athlete has been charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp and contravening 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.

Pistorius has denied guilt on all charges.

– Sapa