State prosecutor Gerrie Nel (L) questions forensic expert Colonel Johannes Vermeulen during the Oscar Pistorius murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Thursday, 13 March 2014. The Paralympian pleaded not guilty to murder, although he admits killing Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her through a locked bathroom door. He mistook her for a burglar in his house, saying he made a tragic but understandable mistake. The murder trial has been compared to that of the OJ Simpson case in the United States 20 years ago. Picture: Alet Pretorius/Pool
Judge Thokozile Masipa and her two assessors were invited by prosecutor Gerrie Nel to examine the reconstruction of the toilet before he began his cross-examination.
Police ballistics expert Captain Chris Mangena sprayed a white substance in the cubicle to make laser beams shining through bullet holes in the door visible.
The exhibition was set to assist Nel in his cross-examination defence ballistics expert Thomas “Wollie” Wolmarans on the trajectory of the bullets fired by Pistorius.
The paralympian claims he thought his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was an intruder when he shot her dead in his Pretoria home on February 14 last year.
He shot through the locked door of his toilet, hitting Steenkamp in the hip, arm, and head. He has been charged with murdering her.
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 denied guilt on all charges.
Nel asked Wolmarans if, after consulting Pistorius’s legal team, he altered his reports to suit the defence’s case.
The prosecutor said the court should note Wolmarans’s assertions as he held consultations with different people in Pistorius’s defence.
Wolmarans did not submit a report to the defence team before April 23. He said he was only giving them notes.
He also denied that he had consulted Pistorius as he drafted his report. He said Pistorius had been present at one defence meeting but he did not consult him.
Wolmarans said Pistorius vomited after seeing a photograph of Steenkamp.
Nel then raised Wolmarans’s ire when he said he was “biased because you only wanted the tell the court that Pistorius vomited”.
Wolmarans responded: “I have never consulted with the accused on what happened that night.”
“I have never lied to a court. You make an inference [if] you like,” he said.
The trial continues.
– Sapa
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