Overflow courtroom should behave – Oscar judge

“Something disturbing has come to my attention,” she said, saying her message was addressed to the people in the courtroom next to hers where the proceedings were being relayed live on a screen.

Masipa said she had been told that people in that courtroom were “cheering, booing, and doing whatever they like”.

Courtroom GC was an extension of her court, she said.

“It is not an entertainment place or picnic place,” she said, adding that eating and drinking were prohibited in court.

Masipa called on security officers to do their job.

Earlier, security officers removed a young man caught taking a photograph in courtroom GD before proceedings began.

“Take him out of the court,” a security official said to his colleagues.

The young man who had snapped a picture using his cellphone was led out of court, looking embarrassed.

Taking pictures before the hearing starts is prohibited in the courtroom where the paralympian is on trial for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Once the court is in session, a pool photo arrangement for media houses kicks in.

Pistorius shot Steenkamp through a locked bathroom door at his home in Pretoria on Valentine’s Day last year.

He says he mistook her for an intruder and that the shooting was an accident.

He is charged with murdering her, and also faces three other charges for contraventions of the Firearms Control Act.

He has pleased not guilty to all the charges.

Pistorius looked calm on Thursday as he sat in front of the court, chatting to a member of his legal team.

His family, who have been at his side during all the proceedings, were again in court.

Also in court was Steenkamp’s mother June, who sat speaking to ANC Women’s League Gauteng spokeswoman Jacqui Mofokeng, who has regularly attended the trial since its start seven weeks ago.

– Sapa