FILE PICTURE: Barry Roux, lawyer for Oscar Pistorius, is seen at the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday, 11 March 2014. Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year. She was shot in the arm, hip and head. He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public. Picture: Kevin Sutherland/Pool
Barry Roux, SC, was questioning Warrant Officer Barend van Staden about photos he and police Colonel HS Motha took of the scene of Reeva Steenkamp’s death the morning of February 14 last year. Pistorius has been charged with murdering her.
Roux was challenging Van Staden’s statement that he was alone on the scene taking photos around 6am that day.
Roux showed the court photos the colonel took, apparently at the same time as Van Staden.
Van Staden told the court earlier he had not seen Motha, even though, as Roux demonstrated, their photos were taken in the same room around the same time.
Van Staden appeared less confident than on Monday, sounding annoyed at times as he replied to Roux.
“Is there anything telling you that Colonel Motha’s times were wrong?” asked Roux.
“On all the photos?” Van Staden replied in Afrikaans. Interpreter Fanny Hendricks repeated his words in English.
“Did you find wrong times?” asked Roux.
“No,” Van Staden said.
Van Staden is attached to the photography section of the Local Criminal Record Centre. He had been with the centre for 12 years, and in the police for 21.
Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder 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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