Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius sits alone next to the dock during lunch break of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Wednesday, 5 March 2014. Pistorius is on trial for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his suburban Pretoria home on Valentine's Day last year. He says he mistook her for an intruder. Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko/Pool
Barry Roux, SC, for Pistorius, asked for an early tea break, saying some of the information that emerged in the High Court in Pretoria was not in any report in the defence’s possession.
Moments before prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked witness Lt-Col Johannes Vermeulen “what is that?”, indicating the structure set up next to the witness box.
“It’s a replica with the exact inner dimensions as the toilet on the scene,” the forensic investigator replied.
He confirmed it was the door taken from Pistorius’s home.
Nel asked Vermeulen if the two dents in the door with the cricket bat were made by someone in the same position.
Vermeulen said no. The one mark is at a height of 1.53m, the second one is slightly lower down, above the door handle.
Vermeulen is the commander of the material analysis sub-section at the forensic science laboratory.
He was testifying about the cricket bat Pistorius said he used to bash open the door of his toilet, and about the door itself, through which he shot Reeva Steenkamp.
He told the court he had more than 29 years of experience in scientific analysis and completed almost 1400 forensic investigations.
Journalists were told during the break that no photos of the door could be taken while Vermeulen was testifying.
Court resumes at 11.30am.
– Sapa
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