Oscar friend testifies on gun allegation
Oscar Pistorius's friend Darren Fresco testified on Tuesday in the murder trial of the athlete accused of killing law graduate and model Reeva Steenkamp.
Family members of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius are seen 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/EPA/Pool
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked that Fresco be warned in terms of Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act, as he might be asked about the Firearms Act transgressions Pistorius was charged with.
These related to the alleged reckless endangerment of property and discharging a firearm in public.
Judge Thokozile Masipa warned Fresco, wearing a suit and tie with his shoulder length fair hair, that he might be asked questions which could incriminate him and he might be found guilty as a result of this.
If he answered honestly he might be discharged from prosecution. He said he understood this.
He was sworn in and began testimony about an incident, on which Pistorius’s ex-girlfriend Samantha Taylor testified last week.
She told the court Pistorius had fired a shot out of the sunroof of a car when she and Fresco were with him, out of “irritation” for being stopped by traffic police.
Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder and to the firearms charges.
Last week, the court heard testimony about a gun accidentally discharged at Tasha’s restaurant in Melrose Arch, where Fresco was also present.
– Sapa
