Day four of Oscar on stand

Various police officers who had testified for the State in the paralympian’s murder trial arrived in court, including ballistics expert Captain Chris Mangena.

Captain Francois Moller, who had previously testified about the data he downloaded from the iPhones of Pistorius and his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, did his tie.

Pistorius is accused of the murder of Steenkamp in his Pretoria townhouse on February 14 last year. He shot her through the locked door of his toilet, apparently thinking she was an intruder. She was struck in the hip, arm and head.

A picture of a female rhino and her calf was displayed on the screens around the court, where on Wednesday a photo of Steenkamp’s bloodied head had appeared.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had tried unsuccessfully to force Pistorius to look at it, in an attempt to have him state responsibility for killing Steenkamp.

Nel came into court through the side entrance at 9.15am and began arranging his files on his desk.

Pistorius entered a few minutes later and stood in the witness box talking to a grey-haired woman who hugged him.

Pistorius is also charged with contraventions of 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