Falling bullet can kill – Oscar Trial
The bullet Oscar Pistorius fired out of the open sunroof of a car could have killed someone, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Wednesday.
FILE PICTURE: State prosecutor Gerrie Nel speaks during the Oscar Pistorius murder trial at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, 19 March 2014. Pistorius is charged with murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines Day in 2013. Picture: Themba Hadebe/Pool
Had the bullet been fired into the air vertically, it would have fallen back to earth at a speed of about 80 metres per second, ballistics expert Chris Mangena said to questioning by prosecutor Gerrie Nel.
He was testifying about one of two counts of contravening the Firearms Control Act Pistorius is charged with.
On September 30, 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.
“To penetrate a human body you need about 50 metres per second. You can kill someone.”
Asked what would happen if the bullet was fired at an angle, Mangena said: “At an angle you can still kill a person.”
Nel had briefly digressed from questioning Mangena about Pistorius’s shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home in the early hours of February 14 last year.
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.
– Sapa
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