‘I never called Oscar a liar’ – Gerrie Nel

“I never called him a liar. I said he was lying,” said Nel in his closing arguments.

The defence’s arguments state that Pistorius was compromised as a witness and was called a liar by the State on numerous occasions.

Explaining what happened, Nel said he went back into all the trial records and said it happened once. He said he was reprimanded by the court but never called Pistorius a liar and just said he was lying.

Nel argued that the defence’s admission that Pistorius was compromised in the witness box showed he was not a good witness.

Pistorius is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.

He shot her dead through the locked door of his toilet at his Pretoria home.

Pistorius has denied guilt, saying he thought she was an intruder about to open the door and attack him. The State contends he shot her during an argument.

On Thursday, Nel said Pistorius tailored his evidence from his initial statement to when he was on the stand.

It had become “fashionable” in court cases that when an accused was in a “quandary” they blamed the State.

Quoting from a previous case Nel said: “The State is not obliged to play chess against him or herself.”

It was not the function of a prosecutor to call witnesses who would help the defence, especially not in cases where the accused had a defence team.

The State could not be blamed for calling other witnesses.

Dealing with the legal principles in the case, Nel said the court should consider the probabilities in the State’s case.

“The court should apply itself to the merits and demerits of witnesses but also to the probabilities of the case,” he said.

“We say in this trial if the weight of each piece of circumstantial evidence… is piled on a scale… the scale will convincingly balance in favour of the State. I argue that the court must reject the accused’s version.”

As Nel spoke, Barry Roux, for Pistorius, occasionally looked at Pistorius who sat head down taking notes.

Occasionally Steenkamp’s family and friends, seated in the front row of the public gallery, looked over to the athlete. His own family, including sister Aimee and father Henke, were seated behind him.

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 pleaded not guilty to these charges as well.

– Sapa