FILE PICTURE: South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius gestures on the thirteenth day of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on March 19, 2014
When he came home to Steenkamp on the evening of February 13, 2013, her present for him was waiting on the kitchen counter, the paralympian said to questioning by his lawyer Barry Roux.
“The card said Ozzie. Reeva told me I’m not allowed to open it until the next day, so I didn’t open it.”
As he began choking up with tears again, he struggled to continue.
“On her birthday on August 8 I opened it. It was a photo frame that she got made with four photos of her and I,” he said, his voice trailing off.
Her birthday is in fact August 19.
Court was adjourned briefly for Pistorius to change out of his suit into a white long-sleeved top and tight, black tracksuit pants.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of Steenkamp in his Pretoria townhouse in the early hours of February 14 last year.
He shot her through the locked door of his toilet, apparently thinking she was an intruder.
He is also charged with contravening 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.
He has also pleaded not guilty to these two charges.
– Sapa
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