Ex-girlfriend testifies in Oscar trial
A former girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, Samantha Taylor, was sworn in to give evidence at his murder trial in the High Court in Pretoria on Friday.
Barry Roux, lawyer for Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius, gestures during the trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Wednesday, 5 March 2014. Pistorius is on trial for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his suburban Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year. He says he mistook her for an intruder.Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko/Pool
The gently spoken woman, with blonde hair flowing down her shoulders, told the court she started dating Pistorius’s in 2011 when she 17.
They met at a rugby game in 2010 and he added her on Facebook and they started talking over social media.
She said she spent about four days a week at his house and was familiar with the main bedroom of the house.
He would sleep on the right hand side of the bed, she said.
She knew he owned a gun because “he carried it around with him”.
She said at night he placed the firearm on his bedside table or next to his legs on the floor.
Pistorius wears prosthetic legs after a double amputation as a child and went on to become a gold medal-winning athlete who also competed in the Olympic games.
– Sapa
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