Nel to Pistorius: “You are try

Oscar Pistorius weeps as he listens to evidence by a pathologist in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, April 7, 2014. Pistorius is charged with murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines Day 2013. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, Pool)

Nel to Pistorius: “You are trying to keep up with an untruth”

State prosecutor claims Oscar Pistorius knew Reeva Steenkamp was behind the toilet door when he fired four shots. Judge Masipa admonished Gerrie Nel for repeatedly calling Pistorius a liar in court.

Nel to Pistorius: “You are try

Oscar Pistorius weeps as he listens to evidence by a pathologist in court in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, April 7, 2014. Pistorius is charged with murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines Day 2013. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, Pool)

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Gerrie Nel’s cross-examination of Oscar Pistorius continued today as the prosecution sought to show that Pistorius’s version of events on the night he shot Reeva Steenkamp was riddled with inconsistencies and inexplicable anomalies.

Nel started the day by attempting to portray Silverwoods Estate as a safe place to live by pointing out that there had been no burglaries in the recent past except for the watches stolen from the crime scene following the shooting of Steenkamp. Pistorius admitted that the inside and outside alarms were activated, but claimed that the outside alarm could have been deactivated by the painters working on the house. Nel was evidently trying to make the point that the alarm didn’t go off and so it was strange for Pistorius to assume that someone had broken in, but the athlete claimed he simply didn’t think about it.

Nel then turned the conversation back to the 2012 incident when Pistorius confronted TV producer Quinton Van Der Burgh after he took Samantha Taylor abroad with him while Pistorius was at the Olympics in London, which then resulted in Pistorius getting assaulted on another occasion. Nel claimed that the story showed Pistorius had a history of going looking for trouble because it was he that confronted Van Der Burgh. The athlete also denied threatening to break the legs of Marc Batchelor, an associate of Van Der Burgh, after Batchelor told Pistorius to “wind his neck in”. Pistorius revealed that he didn’t report the incident to the police because he didn’t have any faith in them solving the situation.

Nel then returned to the night of the shooting. As Pistorius described hearing the window slide open having got out of bed to move the fans and shut the patio door, his voice once again became tremulous and emotional: “I was frozen for a couple of seconds, then I rushed to get my firearm next to the pedestal, then I got my firearm…told Reeva to call the police…I whispered to her. I did not look at her. I did not discuss the noise with her.” Nel then wondered why Pistorius did not ask Reeva “Did you hear that?” to which the Paralympian had no response.

Nel began re-examining evidence regarding the location of the fans and the duvet. Pistorius continued to insist that police moved the duvet on to the floor, opened the curtains and switched on the light, but that he didn’t know why the police would have moved things around. When Nel called Pistorius a liar Judge Masipa reprimanded him, asking Nel to “please mind (his) language” despite the fact that the state prosecutor has called witnesses in the stand “pathological liars” and “arrogant liars” during previous court cases without drawing admonition.

Nel then asked Pistorius why he was becoming so emotional and the athlete replied: “Because I have lost the person I cared about. I don’t know why people don’t understand that,” and then broke down in tears, resulting in a ten minute adjournment to give him time to regain his composure.

On their return, Nel examined the other options that Pistorius had when he heard the window in the bathroom opening, imagining the different ways Pistorius could have reacted and what the alternative consequences might have been. These included staying behind the bed with Reeva or making an escape through the bedroom door, resulting in Nel saying: “You have to explain why you didn’t take Reeva through the bedroom door to safety…You approached the danger. It doesn’t make sense.” Pistorius said that this was his instinct rather than to cower or run away and continued to insist that he simply wanted to “protect Steenkamp and (him)self.” He also claimed that he was “not ready to shoot” despite drawing his firearm and approaching the perceived danger.

As he got nearer to the bathroom along the corridor, Pistorius described how he “was screaming for the person to get out and for Reeva to call the police.” He then peered round the corner into the bathroom and saw the bedroom door shut when it was usually open. But during this description Pistorius contradicted Nel when it was put to the athlete that he had previously described hearing the door being kicked shut, before Pistorius then realised that that had in fact been his claim in his bail application and thus apologising. Nel replied: “You can’t just give contradictory versions and then apologise. Your mistakes are as convincing as your evidence and that is a problem…You are trying to keep up with an untruth.”

Referring to the moments just before Pistorius fired the four shots, when the athlete was in the bathroom and Steenkamp being the toilet door less than three metres away from him, Nel told Pistorius: “There is no way you’ll convince a court that she stood there saying nothing…She would have responded.”

“In fact you knew Reeva was behind the door and you shot… it’s the only thing that makes sense,” said Nel. “She wasn’t scared of anything except you.” Court was then adjourned at this highly emotional moment until Monday morning at Nel’s request.