Oscar friend queried over shot
Darren Fresco was silent in his statement on Oscar Pistorius seeking to shift blame for a shot fired in a Johannesburg restaurant, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Tuesday.
FILE PICTURE: Barry Roux, lawyer for Oscar Pistorius, is seen at the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday, 11 March 2014. Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year. She was shot in the arm, hip and head. He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public. Picture: Kevin Sutherland/Pool
Boxer friend Kevin Lerena testified last week that a gun went off by accident when it was being passed between the friends at the restaurant in Melrose Arch.
The court heard on Tuesday that this firearm belonged to Fresco, also a friend of Pistorius.
Lerena said Pistorius was holding it at the time and after it accidentally went off, he asked that someone else take the blame because it would cause “tension” in the media.
Fresco conceded he had consulted lawyers before he made his statement, saying he did not want to get into trouble.
But he could not explain why he left out the alleged blame-shifting.
Defence lawyer Barry Roux said it would have been easy to put in the statement that Pistorius wanted to shift the blame.
“I can’t give you a reason for that,” he said, occasionally swivelling in the court chair as he was cross-examined by Roux.
He said he did tell his counsel about this.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year. She was shot in the arm, hip and head.
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 201.
In September, 2010 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.
– Sapa
