Oscar accuses ex of lying
Oscar Pistorius accused his ex-girlfriend and a friend of lying under oath, during his murder trial in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.
FILE PICTURE: Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is seen at the high court in Pretoria on Monday, 7 April 2014. The athlete is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp whom he shot dead through a locked toilet door at his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year. He claims he mistook her for an intruder. Picture: Deaan Vivier/Media24/Pool
“That is a lie,” said Pistorius when challenged on his denial that he fired a shot out of a sunroof of a car on September 30, 2012.
“That story was fabricated My Lady, it never happened.”
Nel retorted: “But it’s a bad fabrication… it was a terrible fabrication between the two of them.”
Pistorius said he had “heard” there had been communication between Samantha Taylor and Darren Fresco but he did not know who told him this.
The public gallery snorted at this and Nel laughed but immediately apologised.
“I apologise, My Lady, for laughing but I was surprised,” said Nel, promising that it would not happen again.
Judge Thokozile Masipa looked at the court sternly and said: “You possibly think this is entertainment. It is not, so please restrain yourself.”
Earlier, Pistorius said he could not remember going to a gun dealer at the dealer’s private residence after the alleged Modderfontein incident, as Taylor had testified.
This week Taylor tweeted: “Last lies you get to tell. You better make it worth your while” — after he had testified that she had tried to get back with him after they broke up, that she was with someone when he was overseas and that someone set up a fake Twitter account to pick on Steenkamp.
Taylor has deleted the comment.
Earlier on the day of the alleged Modderfontein shooting, he had been at the Vaal with friends.
Nel took Pistorius to task over the way he took care of his firearm while on a boat, at the get-together, and while having a swim.
Pistorius said he could not remember where he had worn his holster but “I carried my firearm wherever I was, My Lady”.
He said he did not think he was being negligent by leaving the firearm under a towel when he went for a swim because of the people he was with.
“Why don’t you just say it’s wrong. You’re incapable of using those words,” said Nel.
Pistorius eventually conceded that he would have been negligent by leaving the gun under a towel when he jumped off the boat for a swim.
Firearms Act charges he faces relate to the discharge of a firearm at Tashas Restaurant in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg while he was handling it under a table and shooting out of a sunroof on the way back from the Vaal as well as storing ammunition for his father at his home.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including the fatal shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in his home. He said he thought there was an intruder when he fired at the toilet.
He discovered afterwards that she was in the toilet and that he had killed her.
He admitted the gun went off in his hand in Tashas but said he did not pull the trigger.
– Sapa
