Oscar dropped baton of truth, says prosecutor
PARALYMPIC superstar Oscar Pistorius cannot escape a conviction for the premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, prosecutor Gerrie Nel told a South African court yesterday in his concluding remarks.
Nel said Pistorius, the first double amputee to run at an Olympic Games, had presented two arguments on his defence that “can never be reconciled”.
Pistorius shot law graduate and model Steenkamp through a bathroom door at his Pretoria home in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year. He says he did so by mistake, thinking she was an intruder.
The 27-year-old’s defence lawyer Barry Roux is expected to finish delivering his closing arguments today, with Judge Thokozile Masipa set to adjourn the trial to consider her verdict. She could take between a week and a month. Pistorius faces possible life imprisonment if found guilty of premeditated murder, while a lesser charge of culpable homicide carries a 15-year sentence.
Nel accused Pistorius, nicknamed Blade Runner for his distinctive prostheses, of being and “appalling”, “vague” and “deceitful” in his testimony, adding that he had dropped “the baton of truth”.
“He never said to anybody that it was an accident, that he fired by mistake,” Nel added. “If the accused argues it was in self-defence, he needs to explain why. What the court cannot lose sight of is [that] we have the accused armed.”
Roux said the state’s case rested on “circumstantial evidence”, adding: “You must show that the proven facts only justify one inference and that it excludes all other reasonable inferences.”