Family members console Pistorius

His sister Aimee sat down next to him along with another woman, as his uncle Arnold stood nearby with brother Carl two rows behind him.

Pistorius broke down as pathologist Gert Saayman described the injuries sustained by Pistorius’s girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius cried in the dock as Saayman described how a bullet entered Steenkamp’s head in the right upper part, and ran under the skull before it exited from a second wound in the head.

He sat gagging as Saayman said a bulk of the projectile went into the brain.

This evidence may not be broadcast live, tweeted or blogged by order of Judge Thokozile Masipa. This is after Saayman requested the order to protect the dignity of Steenkamp and her family.

Saayman said he did not mind filtered or paraphrased reports.

Steenkamp suffered multiple wounds as a result of gunshots fired by Pistorius, the court heard.

The upper left arm was deformed due to the amount of fracture, Saayman told the court.

Wounds were caused by multiple small fragments. There was bruising in skin around the wounds. The right upper arm had a bluish discolouration surrounding that wound.

The court heard Steenkamp’s body was naked when it was brought in for the post mortem and her clothes were brought in along with the body.

Saayman said the holes in the clothes corresponded to the wounds on the body.

He said there was a grouping of abrasions, superficial fractures, on the skin of Steenkamp’s torso.

He said a close-up view of injuries showed they were not penetrating injuries.

Steenkamp sustained a gunshot wound to her right hip, 92cm from the ground. He said a defect he had seen on Steenkamp’s pants was in line with this wound.

Steenkamp also sustained injuries to her left groin but these were superficial small abrasions, possibly caused by wooden splinters, said Saayman.

The court has already heard that Pistorius shot through a bathroom door. His defence submitted that he broke the bathroom door down with a cricket bat to get to Steenkamp.

Saayman also spoke of a wound that he noted on Steenkamp’s left hand that was between her second and third finger.

Steenkamp’s Nike shorts had blood stains on them, and a small hole around 5mm in diameter. What initially seemed like a defect on the trousers turned out to be a blood spatter, he said.

A sleeveless black vest accompanied the shorts. Saayman said small tissue and bone fragments could be seen on the vest.

Pistorius is on trial for the murder of Steenkamp who was shot through a locked bathroom door of his Pretoria home on February 14 last year. He said he had mistaken her for an intruder.

The State, however, argues that it was premeditated murder.

During the lunch adjournment there was confusion over the extent of Masipa’s order and whether it included quotes by Saayman.

– Sapa