Movement in toilet questioned

In his bail application statement Pistorius said “I heard movement inside the toilet”, Nel read to the court during the paralympian’s cross-examination.

On Monday Pistorius said this was a “wood movement” which he first said was the door scraping against the frame, but then said was made by the magazine rack in the toilet cubicle.

Pistorius is charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria townhouse on February 14 last year. He shot her through the locked door of his toilet, saying later he mistook her for an intruder.

“Why use ‘movement’ and not ‘noise’, if it was wood?” Nel asked.

“Why would you fire at the magazine rack, because it had nothing to do with the door?”

“I didn’t have time to interpret,” Pistorius replied.

Judge Thokozile Masipa told him to raise his voice.

“Why would you fire at the magazine rack?” Nel asked him.

“I thought it was the door opening. In retrospect it could only have been the magazine rack,” Pistorius said.

Nel again said Pistorius was tailoring his version to match the facts he was being presented with.

“You are constantly thinking of your version,” Nel said.

– Sapa