Police forensic expert Colonel Johannes Vermeulen holds a cricket bat while standing next to the door of murder accused Oscar Pistorius' toilet during cross-examination at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday, 12 March 2014. Pistorius, a double amputee, has said he used the bat to break down a locked toilet door through which he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year.He is on trial for premeditated murder. Pistorius has denied guilt, saying he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA/Pool
“I saw it only some time during last week. I was not privy to that information,” Vermeulen said to questions by Barry Roux, for Pistorius.
Roux quoted from the affidavit Pistorius submitted at his bail application last year.
It read: “I put on my prosthetic legs, ran back to the bathroom and tried to kick the bathroom door open.”
Vermeulen said he was pleased he had not seen this statement as it might have influenced his judgement.
“As the State we are just as much in service of the accused as the defence is. I must look at the situation and be absolutely objective,” Vermeulen said.
He said earlier he had seen no evidence that Pistorius kicked the door with his prostheses on.
Pistorius tried to break open the door of his toilet with a cricket bat after he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through it. He claims he thought she was an intruder.
Vermeulen is the commander of the material analysis sub-section at the forensic science laboratory.
He told the court he had more than 29 years of experience in scientific analysis and completed almost 1400 forensic investigations.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Steenkamp in his home on February 14 last year.
He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.
– Sapa
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