Oscar Pistorius case: Conflicting accounts
BBC News online - 20 February 2013What happened on the night of the shooting?
Oscar Pistorius and chief investigative officer Hilton Botha have given conflicting accounts.
Their key points are below.
Mr Pistorius said he woke and walked on his stumps to the balcony.
He then heard a noise in the bathroom and thought it was an intruder. He
pulled a 9mm pistol from under his bed and went to the bathroom.He said he was on his stumps when he fired at the closed toilet door. Ms Steenkamp was hit three times. He went back to the bedroom, and realised Ms Steenkamp was not in bed. He then pulled on his prosthetic legs and turned on the lights.
He bashed the door in with a cricket bat. In the toilet he found Ms Steenkamp and carried her down the stairs. Mr Pistorius said he had called the manager of his guarded and gated housing complex and a private paramedic service.
Mr Botha said Mr Pistorius fired four shots at the toilet from about
1.5m away. Bullets were fired at a downwards angle at the door,
indicating that Mr Pistorius was wearing prosthetic legs. Ms
Steenkamp's wounds were on her right hand side, he said, suggesting that
she was not sitting on the toilet. Mr Botha said a witness had heard
arguing earlier and saw lights on in the house after the gunshots.Mr Botha said the pistol's holster was found under the side of the bed on which Ms Steenkamp slept, implying it would have been impossible for Mr Pistorius to get the gun without realising she was not in the bed. Mr Botha said when he arrived he found Ms Steenkamp dead on the ground floor and a cricket bat in front of the first bathroom sink. He said police found four phones, but that none had been used to call for help.
Exactly what happened in the home of Oscar Pistorius is fiercely contested
Lawyers acting for and against
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius agree that Reeva Steenkamp was
killed on 14 February between 04:00 and 05:00 local time (02:00 and
03:00 GMT).
But they agree on little else.The prosecution argues that Ms Steenkamp's death was the result of pre-meditated murder.
The defence says there is no evidence of this and there is not even evidence of murder, and argues that Mr Pistorius should face a lesser charge, possibly of culpable homicide.
From the outset the key area of dispute has been whether Mr Pistorius shot his girlfriend accidentally.
Soon after the killing, police spokeswoman Denise Beuke dismissed suggestions that Ms Steenkamp "had been perceived to be a burglar".
The prosecution and police argue that the athlete deliberately shot his girlfriend through a bathroom door at his home following an argument.
They say that she was hit in the right side of her head, her right hip and her right elbow.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said that on the night of the killing Mr Pistorius got up, put on his prosthetic legs, walked seven metres (24ft) and fired his gun through the locked bathroom door.
He shot four times and hit Ms Steenkamp three times, he said. The defendant later broke down the bathroom door and carried the victim downstairs, Mr Nel said.
The prosecution argued at Mr Pistorius's bail hearing on Wednesday that a witness had testified to hearing "non-stop talking like fighting" in the early hours of 14 February.
The first officer to arrive on the scene - chief investigating officer Hilton Botha - later said another witness had testified to hearing screams and gunshots from the house.
"We have statement of a person who said after he heard gunshots, he went to his balcony and saw the light was on. Then he heard a female screaming two-three times, then more gunshots," Mr Botha told the court.
Mr Botha testified that he thought the bullets were fired "down", suggesting Mr Pistorius had his prosthetic legs on at the time of the killing - and adding weight to the prosecution's claim that the killing was pre-meditated.
The court heard that two mobile phones were seized at the property, but neither was used to call police or paramedics.
Two boxes of testosterone and needles were also found in Mr Pistorius's bedroom, the prosecution says,
But Mr Pistorius has given a very different version of events.
Oscar Pistorius could face life in jail if found guilty
He claims that he was asleep until only moments before the shooting, there was no argument between the couple and that he had "no intention" of killing his girlfriend.
Mr Pistorius told his bail hearing that he woke in the middle of the night and went to the balcony because he heard what he thought was a robber in the bathroom.
According to a statement on Tuesday, Mr Pistorius fired through the bathroom door.
He said that he was walking on his stumps at the time - making him feel particularly vulnerable in the pitch dark.
The athlete said he fired the shots first, and only later realised that he had mistakenly killed Ms Steenkamp, who he had been urging to call the police.
He said he was "absolutely mortified" at her death.
His defence team argued that Mr Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp were very much in love.
But Det Botha was later put on the defensive when questioned by Mr Pistorius's lawyer, says our correspondent.
The testosterone found was actually a legal herbal remedy used by athletes, the defence said, and a quantity of ammunition that police discovered at the residence in fact belonged to Mr Pistorius's father.
The defence have accused Det Botha of putting the "worst possible interpretation" on the evidence.
Under cross-examination, Det Botha admitted one witness who heard arguing at the house was in her own home hundreds of metres away.
The defence said the post-mortem examination showed Ms Steenkamp had an empty bladder consistent with someone getting up to go to the toilet, as detailed in the athlete's narrative.
A full trial of the 26-year-old Paralympic star is not expected for months.
Labels: Australia, Celebrity, Crime, Human Relations, Justice
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, February 20, 2013
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