Vermeulen’s testimony continues – Oscar Trial

Barry Roux, for Pistorius, asked Vermeulen to confirm that the toilet door of Pistorius’s home was first shot into before Pistorius struck it with a cricket bat.

Vermeulen agreed, explaining this was so because a crack in the wooden door is seen entering the right side of one of the four bullet holes and then leaving it on the left side.

“If it was the other way the crack would have gone straight down,” Vermeulen said.

He was testifying about a cricket bat Pistorius used to bash open the door of his toilet, and about the door itself, after he shot Reeva Steenkamp through it.

The officer provided light relief in court after Roux asked him his height.

He replied it was 1.79m.

When asked his weight, he said: “Fortunately I’m not a lady so I don’t weigh myself often.” The court erupted in laughter.

Roux did not explain why he needed these vital statistics.

Vermeulen is the commander of the material analysis sub-section at the forensic science laboratory.

He told the court he had more than 29 years of experience in scientific analysis and completed almost 1400 forensic investigations.

Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Steenkamp on February 14 last year. He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.

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