Oscar trial: pathologist queried

Retired professor Jan Botha said this under cross-examination by prosecutor Gerrie Nel in the High Court in Pretoria.

This came after he was asked to examine a close-up of an injury to Steenkamp’s back and a close up of the weave on the black top she was wearing when she was killed.

Earlier, Botha said he thought Steenkamp had not fallen onto the magazine rack after being shot in the hip, as suggested by State ballistics expert Captain Chris Mangena.

Botha said earlier that in his opinion she would have fallen down against it, but not on top of it.

He believed the injuries on her back were caused by her sliding against the magazine rack, and not from ricochets from the “black talon” bullets Pistorius used.

This was because there was blood spatter from Steenkamp’s injuries on the front of the rack but not inside it.

Botha said, after looking at the pictures of the wound and the weave of the top Steenkamp wore when she died: “It is far more likely now that this has been brought to my attention that this was caused by a magazine rack rather than the weave.”

Under questioning from Nel, he said he did not put it in his report because he did not consider it.

Sounding irritated, he told Nel that he was not working for the accused or the defence, he was just trying to help the court.

Pistorius has denied guilt on a charge of deliberately killing Steenkamp.

He said he thought there was an intruder in his house when he shot dead Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in his toilet last year. She had been spending the night.

Pistorius also faces two charges under 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 charges.

– Sapa