Tasha’s owner takes stand in Oscar trial
The State on Wednesday called its fifth witness to testify in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius sits alone next to the dock during lunch break of his 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
Jason Loupis, the owner of Tasha’s, a Melrose Arch restaurant, took to the stand in the High Court in Pretoria.
He testified about the day Pistorius fired a gun in his restaurant in January 11, 2013.
Loupis said the restaurant was fully packed, with about 200 people inside.
“I heard a loud bang. It sounded like a gun but I hoped not. I hoped it was a balloon,” said Loupis.
He said he realised the shot had come from Pistorius’s table.
He walked over, and enquired about what had happened.
“They all looked at me… Mr Fresco then said ‘sorry Jason, my gun fell out of my pants’,” said Loupis.
He said he checked if all the other customers were all right, and left the group.
Earlier, the court was told that the gun had actually gone off while in Pistorius’s hands. He asked his friend Fresco to take the blame.
“Oscar said ‘please Darren, say it was you. I don’t want any tension around me. Please take the blame for me,” Pistorius’s boxer friend Kevin Lerena said on Wednesday.
Lerena was grazed by the bullet.
He said Pistorius was shocked and very apologetic about the incident.
A month later, Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door at his Pretoria home.
He says he had mistaken her for an intruder.
– Sapa
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