The chief prosecutor in Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial on Monday alleged numerous inconsistencies in the athlete’s account of how he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year, seeking to show that the athlete is lying when he says he shot her by mistake.
Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel also accused Pistorius of tailoring his testimony to fit the evidence at the scene. Pistorius denied the accusations. Nel alleged that the Olympic runner changed his aim with his 9 mm pistol to ensure that he hit Steenkamp as she fell back against a magazine rack in a toilet cubicle.Pistorius said the claim was not true, one of many denials he has issued in four days of unrelenting cross-examination in a pivotal stage of the trial that is being broadcast on television and followed globally by people who once admired the double-amputee runner for his international achievements on the track.
Nel’s methodical questioning put Pistorius under intense pressure, and the athlete sometimes became distressed, which in turn only prompted his accuser to ask him if he was using his emotional displays to mask his difficulty in answering the questions.
Pistorius testified he fired four times through the closed toilet door in his home last year after hearing a “wood” sound that he mistook for the door about to open. He said he thought an intruder was about to come out and attack him. Pistorius said that, in retrospect, the noise he probably heard was the magazine holder being moved by his girlfriend.
Nel said Pistorius killed Steenkamp intentionally after a fight and is lying about fearing an intruder. He said Pistorius heard Steenkamp, struck by the first shot, fall against the magazine rack and that he used that sound to adjust his aim.
“I’m saying you heard the magazine rack and you changed your aim,” Nel said to the Paralympic champion. Steenkamp was hit by three of the shots, prosecutors say, while one missed.
“I wouldn’t have heard anyone fall inside of the toilet while I was shooting,” Pistoriusreplied to Nel, though directing his gaze to Judge Thokozile Masipa, who will decide on the verdict. The athlete faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.