Oscar, Steenkamp’s mother emotional
Murder-accused Oscar Pistorius pressed his hands over his eyes on Tuesday when a ballistic expert detailed the fatal wounds his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp suffered last year.
FILE PICTURE: A relative of the late South African model Reeva Steenkamp holds the funeral ceremony program at the crematorium building in Port Elizabeth on February 19, 2013 after Steenkamp, 29, was shot four times in the early hours of February 14, 2013 by a 9mm pistol owned by South African sporting hero Oscar Pistorius. AFP PHOTO
Steenkamp’s mother June began crying as the murder trial of paralympian continued in the High Court in Pretoria.
She was comforted by a member of the ANC Women’s League sitting next to her.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was questioning Captain Chris Mangena about his role in the investigation into Steenkamp’s death.
“There was a bruise on the chest of the deceased… but the projectile did not penetrate the chest,” Mangena said, as Nel asked him about the sequence of post mortem photographs in a file in front of him.
“Photo 62 shows bruises on the back of the deceased,” Mangena said.
Steenkamp had a wound on the middle finger of her left hand.
“Photo 65 shows two wounds in the head of the deceased, one the bullet entrance wound and the other the exit wound.”
Mangena said he was present when measurements were taken of Pistorius’s body. With his prosthetic legs, he was 1.84m tall and 1.65m without them.
Mangena measured his shoulder and elbow height from the ground, each time with and without his prostheses on, and also the length of his outstretched arm to his knuckles, 66cm.
The court was adjourned to Wednesday at 9.30am.
Pistorius has been charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp and 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.
– Sapa
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