Oscar takes off legs in court
Murder accused Oscar Pistorius took off his prosthetic legs in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday to show his height with and without them.
FILE PICTURE: Oscar Pistorius wipes his face during his murder trial at the high court in Pretoria, Monday, 7 April 2014. Pistorius is charged with murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day in 2013. Picture: Themba Hadebe/AP/Pool
Barry Roux, SC, for Pistorius, asked for a brief adjournment for the athlete to change.
Pistorius returned wearing a long sleeve white top and black shorts.
Roux asked him to stand next to the bathroom door of the mock-up toilet cubicle in court not to give evidence but to give the court a indication of his height with his prosthesis on and with them off.
Pistorius stood in front of the door for a few seconds looking at Roux.
“I ask that you take your prosthesis off,” said Roux.
Pistorius took a seat on a chair in front of the public gallery and removed his prosthesis.
The athlete went to stand in front of his bathroom door again but this time looked down.
He sat down, put on his prosthesis and made his way back to the witness stand.
Roux asked him what time he and his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp went to bed on February 13, 2013. He said between 9 and 10pm.
“I woke up, My Lady, in the early hours of the 14th of February,” he said his voice quivering.
“I sat up in bed. I noticed that the fans were still running and that he door was still open. Reeva was still awake.
“She rolled over to me and said can’t you sleep my baba. I said no.”
He said he went outside to get the fans.
Pistorius was recalling the night Steenkamp was shot in his Pretoria home.
Pistorius has been charged with killing Steenkamp deliberately when he shot her dead through the locked toilet door of his Pretoria home on February 14 last year.
He says he had mistaken her for an intruder.
The athlete also faces two charges related to contravening the Firearms Control Act, to which he has denied guilt.
– Sapa
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