Oscar trial adjourned

Pathologist Gert Saayman, who performed an autopsy on the athlete’s girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, gave the court a full account of the extent of her injuries.

Pistorius shot dead Steenkamp in his Pretoria house in February last year, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

The State has charged him with premeditated murder.

Saayman explained the wounds Steenkamp suffered in detail as Pistorius broke down and retched in the dock.

Expanding bullets used during the shooting were designed to cause maximum tissue damage, Saayman said.

Pistorius sat with his head down and hands covering his face after the court had adjourned. He closed his ears as Saayman gave graphical evidence.

His sister Aimee and brother Carl went over to him, trying to console and comfort him. Aimee used wet wipes on Pistorius’s face.

The three siblings were then joined by an older woman and held onto each other while praying.

The court heard that Steenkamp had a few bruises on her body which were not as a result of the shooting.

Earlier, Judge Thokozile Masipa clarified her ruling on evidence by the media on reporting on the evidence from Saayman.

“The press can go on and do their work but it is not allowed to be live,” she said.

There had been confusion over whether Saayman’s direct quotes were allowed to be used by print media and a request was made during the lunch adjournment to Lulama Luti, spokeswoman for the office of the Chief Justice, to clear this up

“Can they paraphrase? The question is what are they allowed to do, the print media, the other media?” asked Gerrie Nel on the State’s behalf.

Mapisa said: “I hope it’s clear… it’s not supposed to be live, you can paraphrase, summarise, that is it.”

That applied to radio, television and print. No tweeting or blogging was allowed during his evidence.

– Sapa