‘Oscar asked for my gun’, court hears
Oscar Pistorius asked for a friend's gun at a restaurant shortly before the firearm went off, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Tuesday.
South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is pictured in the dock during his ongoing murder trial, Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, 11 March 2014. Pistorius stands trial for the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013. Picture: Kim Ludbrook/Pool
“The accused asked me to pass my firearm to him,” Darren Fresco said to questions from prosecutor Gerrie Nel.
Pistorius took the Glock pistol from Fresco under a table, at Tasha’s restaurant in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, in January 2013.
When Nel asked Fresco why Pistorius asked for his gun, Fresco said he did not know.
“I thought he was competent. We had been to the shooting range before and I know he had a big love for guns,” said Fresco.
He said there was a bullet in the chamber and he saw Pistorius make a “shoulder gesture”, which he assumed was Pistorius sighting the existing bullet out of the chamber.
Fresco said the gun had no “specific safety clip”.
The gun fired and a bullet went into the tiled floor under the table.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Steenkamp on February 14 last year.
He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.
He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.
In September 2010, he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.
– Sapa
