‘Know your target’ – Pistorius

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was questioning firearms instructor Sean Rens about the answers Pistorius gave in his assessment.

In the section on “the importance of target identification”, Pistorius answered: “Know your target and what lies beyond it”.

Pistorius is accused of the premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on February 14 last year. He shot her through the closed door of his toilet, apparently believing she was an intruder.

In questions where the applicant is presented with several scenarios and asked whether these justify the use of lethal force, Pistorius mostly answered no.

In one scenario two men break into his home and start removing his expensive hi-fi. Pistorius was asked, in writing, whether he could discharge his firearm. He wrote no.

Only in the scenario where two armed man advance on him in his home, with no security gate between them, did Pistorius reply that he would fire his gun.

Rens provides the certification process for potential gun owners. He told the court he met Pistorius in May 2012 when Rens’s friend Justin Divaris introduced them.

Pistorius was looking for a Smith and Wesson 500 revolver and asked Rens to find one for him.

“Over a number of months he bought a number of firearms,” Rens said.

In addition to the murder of Steenkamp, Pistorius is charged with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act. He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.

On September 30, 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.

 Sapa