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Witnesses wouldn’t testify – Barry Roux
Most witnesses refused to testify for the defence in paralympian Oscar Pistorius's murder trial, his lawyer Barry Roux told the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
FILE PICTURE: Barry Roux, legal reprensentative of star sprinter Oscar Pistorius (not seen) is pictured at the High Court in Pretoria on Monday, 30 June 2014. Pistorius returned to court after spending 30 days under psychiatric observation to determine if he should be held criminally responsible for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Picture: Phill Magakoe/Independent Newspapers /Pool
“We were unable to call a number of witnesses because they refused, and didn’t want their voices heard all over the world,” Roux said.
There was nothing the defence could do to change their minds, he said. Roux did not tell the court who those witnesses were.
The defence closed its case.
Pistorius is charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year. He claims he shot her by accident through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home, thinking she was an intruder about to emerge and attack him.
The State contends he killed her during an argument.
The State would file its heads of argument on July 30, and the defence on August 4. Argument would then be heard in court on August 7 and 8.
Judge Thokozile Masipa ordered that the contents of the heads of argument not be published by print or broadcast media until they were heard in court.
– Sapa
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