Closing arguments in Oscar case

This was the gist of the final argument delivered by prosecutor Gerrie Nel in the High Court in Pretoria, where the paralympian has denied guilt of a charge of the premeditated murder of Reeva Steenkamp.

“Our argument is that the accused should be convicted of murder,” said Nel.

“The accused created a version that simply revealed his mendacity and deceitfulness.”

Throughout the day, Pistorius, dressed in a black striped suit and glasses, sat in the dock head down, yawning, making notes and occasionally looked at Nel as he spoke.

As the matter reached its final lap, both Pistorius and Steenkamp’s fathers made a debut appearance at the trial.

The two men, Henke Pistorius and Barry Steenkamp, sat on opposite ends of the court, listening attentively to the proceedings.

The prosecutor, nicknamed the Bulldog, spent most of the day digging at Pistorius’s testimony and that of defence witnesses who testified in the trial.

Nel described Pistorius as an appalling witness who tailored his evidence to avoid prosecution. He dismissed several points of Pistorius’s testimony as improbable and untruthful.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux spent the last half hour of Thursday’s proceedings dismissing Nel’s arguments. He accused the State of being selective in the evidence it chose to accept and consider for its case and of ignoring crucial matters raised in the trial.

Pistorius is on trial for the murder of his model and law-graduate girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He shot and killed her through a locked toilet door at his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year.

He alleged he mistook her for an intruder.

The State has submitted that Pistorius intentionally shot her following an argument.

Nel said Pistorius tailored his evidence because he was concerned with the implications of his answers.

“He lied because he thought it was better to hide behind the untruth,” Nel said.

“The accused was more concerned about ‘defending for his life’ than entrusting the court with a truthful account of his conduct on that fateful morning.”

Several times during the proceedings Steenkamp’s father looked emotionlessly at Pistorius, whose own father sat behind him in the front row of the public gallery.

Steenkamp’s mother June as well as her cousin and Johannesburg family the Myers, friends of Reeva, were also in court. On the Pistorius side of the bench was the athlete’s uncle Arnold, sister Aimee and other family members.

The State filed its final arguments on July 30, and the defence on Monday.

Nel said Pistorius “refused to take any responsibility for his actions” and was always the victim.

“It became clear that the accused is incapable of taking any responsibility,” Nel said.

“He always places the blame for his actions somewhere else.”

Nel said the defence indicated that it had two defences for the trial and said this was not the norm.

The defences presented by the defence were that Pistorius did not have criminal capacity and if there was it was in self-defence, he said.

“It’s two defences. That can never be reconciled,” Nel said asking the court to choose one.

Nel denied calling Pistorius a liar while he cross-examined him.

“I never called him a liar, I said he was lying,” said Nel.

The defence’s arguments state that Pistorius was compromised as a witness and was called a liar by the State on numerous occasions.

Nel said he went back into all the trial records and said it happened once. He said he was reprimanded by the court but never called Pistorius a liar and just said he was lying.

Roux, however, referred judge Thokozile Masipa to several pages in the court record where he claimed Nel had referred to Pistorius as a liar.

Pistorius is also charged with three contraventions of the Firearms Control Act, one of illegal possession of ammunition and two of discharging a firearm in public. He has pleaded not guilty to these charges as well.

After proceedings, Pistorius was escorted outside to a white SUV parked in the street with open doors. The media and people gathered and made a human tunnel to get pictures and footage of the athlete.

After he left, a girl in school uniform shouted: “It’s Oscar, I saw him.”

Proceedings will resume at 9.30am on Friday.

– Sapa