Pistorius Trial start delayed
Oscar Pistorius's murder trial was delayed on Tuesday morning from its usual starting time of 9.30am in the High Court in Pretoria.
FILE PICTURE: Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is hugged by his aunt Lois during his ongoing trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at Pretoria’s North Gauteng High Court, Tuesday, 18 March 2014. Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder, contending that he shot the blonde swimsuit model through a locked bathroom door in his Pretoria home in the belief that an intruder was hiding behind it.The State is arguing that he killed her after the couple had a row.In addition to murder, the State has also charged Pistorius with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act. Picture:Werner Beukes/SAPA/Pool
On Monday, police photographer Warrant Officer Barend van Staden was asked to bring photographs taken after Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead on Valentine’s Day last year.
The court heard that Van Staden took 15 albums of photographs at the scene, which included pictures of Pistorius with blood on his shorts and arm.
As proceedings drew to a close on Monday, Van Staden denied defence counsel Barry Roux SC’s submission that Van Staden had taken a very large number of pictures of Pistorius standing in the garage wearing his bloodied shorts and from all angles.
Pistorius said in his bail application he fired shots through the bathroom door of his home thinking it was a burglar in the toilet and discovered afterwards that it was Steenkamp.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering her and also to charges of contravening the Firearms Control Act.
The latter charges relate to the discharge of a Glock pistol at Tasha’s restaurant in Melrose, Johannesburg, and the alleged firing of a shot out of the sunroof of a car.
– Sapa
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