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Oscar Pistorius Defense Team Rests Case In Athlete’s Murder Trial

Oscar Pistorius Defense Team Rests Case In Athlete’s Murder Trial

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

PRETORIA, South Africa — The defense team for Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius closed its case Tuesday in the murder trial of his girlfriend model Reeva Steenkamp, sending the trial into a new phase and ending months of emotionally wrenching cross-examination.

The court was adjourned to allow both sides to prepare written legal arguments based on the thousands of pages of testimony in the trial that has enthralled South Africans, who’ve witnessed Pistorius, once a national hero, at times weeping and retching over gruesome details of Steenkamp’s shooting death.

Pistorius, the double amputee athlete known as the Blade Runner because of the carbon fiber blades he wore to compete, shot to international fame as the first disabled athlete to compete in the London Olympics in 2012.

His golden future was shattered when he was charged with murder for shooting Steenkamp at his house in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year. A psychologist’s report to the court last week said Pistorius is depressed, has a sleep disorder, and is suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Steenkamp was locked inside a toilet cubicle off his bathroom when he shot her. Prosecutors allege he murdered her after a lover’s quarrel, but Pistorius insists he heard a noise and mistook her for a burglar when he fired four shots toward the bathroom. Four Black Talon-style expanding bullets, designed to exact maximum tissue damage, went through the door. Three hit Steenkamp, killing her within minutes.

Pistorious also faces three charges related to illegal handling of guns and ammunition.

On bail, he has been out of competition and has rarely been seen exercising or going out in public.

Pistorius’ advocate Barry Roux told Pretoria’s High Court on Tuesday that the televised broadcast of the trial had caused witnesses favorable to Pistorius’ case to decline to testify on the athlete’s behalf.

The defense advocate acknowledged that he could have asked Judge Thokozile Masipa to subpoena the witnesses but told the court that he chose not to.

The case was broadcast live, but witnesses who did not want their faces shown were not shown on television. Even so, the aggressive cross-examination style of prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who shredded some star defense witnesses, was on display for South Africans who got an intimate picture of the workings of their legal system.

During his cross-examination of Pistorius, Nel accused the athlete of using emotional outbursts during questioning to cover up moments when he felt under pressure.

Roux also put state witnesses under intense scrutiny, including Pistorius’ neighbors who claimed they heard a woman screaming the night of the killing.

The prosecution now has until July 30 to submit its written legal arguments. The defense must submit its arguments by Aug. 4. The court will resume on Aug. 7 for both sides to present closing oral arguments to the court.

Masipa granted the prosecution’s request to ban publication of leaked details of the arguments before the trial reconvenes in court.

Pistorius faces life in jail if convicted of murder. If convicted of culpable homicide, the penalty is up to the discretion of the court, depending how reckless his actions are deemed to have been.

AFP Photo/Bongiwe Mchunu

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Pistorius Psychiatric Report: No Mental Disorder

Pistorius Psychiatric Report: No Mental Disorder

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

JOHHANNESBURG, South Africa — South African double amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius did not have a mental disorder when he killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, according to a psychiatric report presented at his trial Monday.

The trial resumed Monday after the court sent Pistorius for a psychiatric assessment six weeks ago. Judge Thokozile Masipa had ruled the assessment was necessary after Pistorius’ defense advocate, Barry Roux, led with evidence suggesting that the athlete had for years suffered a generalized anxiety disorder that may have affected his behavior the night of the shooting.
But the report said there was no mental disorder that affected his understanding of right and wrong on Valentine’s Day last year, when Pistorius fired four shots into a toilet cubicle in his bathroom, killing Steenkamp.

The prosecution argues that Pistorius and Steenkamp quarreled in the early hours of the morning, she fled into the toilet, and that Pistorius shot her four times with expanding bullets designed to cause maximum tissue damage.

But Pistorius claims he mistook her for an intruder when he opened fire.

Pistorius could still face conviction for murder if the court finds that he knowingly fired into the cubicle, believing that four shots would likely kill anyone in there, including an intruder.
His defense team has argued that Pistorius, whose legs were amputated as a baby because of a disability, felt extremely vulnerable without his prosthetic legs, and that this helped explain his behavior on the night of the shooting.

Dr Gerry Versfeld, the doctor who amputated Pistorius’ lower legs because he was born without fibula bones, testified Monday that the athlete had difficulty balancing on his stumps. Pistorius suffered pain and often fell, or was knocked over by his dogs, he testified, quoting Pistorius.

Versfeld’s evidence added to the picture of a man who felt highly vulnerable without his prosthetic legs and who believed he didn’t have the option to flee on the night he says he imagined intruders were in his bathroom.

It also suggests that Pistorius wouldn’t have been able to bash down the toilet door with a cricket bat while on his stumps, as the prosecution case claims.

As part of the defense case, Pistorius removed his prosthetic legs in the court and showed his stumps to Judge Thokozile Masipa, as the doctor demonstrated the softness of the tissue on the underside of his stumps.

“On his stumps, he is severely vulnerable in a dangerous situation and severely impaired walking and turning,” Versfeld testified.

Pistorius’ defense team also argues the crime scene was tampered with by police. Defense advocate Barry Roux Monday focused on a power cord missing from the crime scene. He said there were photographs that showed the cord present one day, but missing the next.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was forced to admit that the cord was missing and couldn’t be located and that it had never been recorded on a police inventory of the crime scene.
Earlier in the case, police admitted that a valuable watch belonging to Pistorius was stolen from the crime scene when police were present.

Judge Masipa said she was “very concerned” about the missing cord, which she saw as important to the case.

The cord is relevant because earlier in the trial prosecutor Nel argued it wasn’t long enough to reach the socket where Pistorius claimed it was plugged in.
Masipa ordered that the policeman responsible for sealing the house provide an explanation for the whereabouts of the missing cord.

AFP Photo/Bongiwe Mchunu

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South African Prosecutor Seeks Psychiatric Test For Oscar Pistorius

South African Prosecutor Seeks Psychiatric Test For Oscar Pistorius

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

PRETORIA, South Africa — A South African prosecutor said he will ask the Pretoria high court on Tuesday to order a full psychiatric evaluation of double amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius after a psychiatrist testified she had diagnosed him with a mental disorder.

Pistorius is on trial for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp after firing four shots through a bathroom door in his home in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year. He says he thought she was an intruder and never intended to pull the trigger. She was hit three times.

Dr. Merryll Vorster saw Pistorius twice, on May 2 and 7, after Pistorius testified and was cross-examined in his trial. She diagnosed him with generalized anxiety disorder, adding that he suffered from the disorder at the time he shot Steenkamp and this, along with his disability, affected his behavior that night.

She said the court may find that Pistorius had diminished responsibility for killing Steenkamp.

Vorster testified that a person who had generalized anxiety disorder and carried a gun was dangerous.

Prosecutor Gerry Nel foreshadowed his planned application in court Monday. If the court sends Pistorius for psychiatric evaluation, he would spend 30 days in a state psychiatric institution undergoing tests and observation. His advocate, Barry Roux, said he would contest Nel’s application.

In calling for Pistorius to be assessed by psychiatrists, Nel appeared intent on closing off any defense argument that the athlete’s psychiatric disorder was significant enough to make the act of firing four shots reasonable because he was more anxious than a normal person — but not so significant that he could be regarded as insane.

Nel contended that if the mental disorder affected his action in shooting Steenkamp, the court had no choice but to refer him for psychiatric assessment.

Generalized anxiety disorder is defined as chronic, exaggerated, irrational anxiety, often leading to nausea and sweating.

Vorster said Pistorius had developed the disorder due to a lifetime of anxiety, beginning with what she called the “traumatic assault” of having both lower legs amputated at the age of 11 months, as well as a mother who didn’t allow him to consider himself disabled and who trained her children to see their environment as threatening.

Vorster said Pistorius’ mother slept with a gun under her pillow, sometimes abused alcohol and did not soothe the feelings of anxiety her children experienced.

“The children were reared to see their external environment as a threat,” she told the court.

“It appears that the children were not soothed by their mother but rather all developed features of anxiety. Instead of the mother being in a position, if there was a threat, to relieve her children’s anxiety, she added that anxiety.

“His parents always encouraged him to behave and appear as normal as possible. He was never able to allow himself to be seen as being disabled. He was always encouraged to be seen as being normal. Over time this could result in increasing levels of anxiety as the stress of appearing normal continued,” she testified.

Pistorius had a poor self image and feelings of inadequacy about his amputation, his stumps and his disability, she said. He strove to conceal his stumps.

After his mother died, she said, Pistorius had no emotional support and became more anxious.

Vorster said Pistorius became more anxious when he began having relationships. He broke all ties with his father after a quarrel when he was 21.

Vorster described the athlete as overly vigilant and a distrustful, isolated person who did not confide his feelings to anyone. He responded by trying to control his environment, including his strict diet and exercise regime.

After becoming famous, he would prepare himself for hours before public appearances, out of fear he would embarrass himself, Vorster said.

She said he thought his fame made him more of a target for criminals and he always slept with his door locked.

“He became tired and lacked the energy to enjoy his leisure time,” she said. “Mr. Pistorius describes feeling isolated and generally alone.”

Voster said his disorder and disability meant he would have reacted “differently” from an ordinary person on the night he shot Steenkamp.

Nel said this raised the issue of whether Pistorius had diminished responsibility for his actions, compared to an ordinary person, based on his mental disorder and called for this issue to be investigated by psychiatrists.

“What I’m saying is that his reaction is not that of a normal, able-bodied person without generalized anxiety disorder,” Voster responded.

AFP Photo/Bongiwe Mchunu

Pistorius Was ‘Broken’ After Shooting Girlfriend, Friend Says

Pistorius Was ‘Broken’ After Shooting Girlfriend, Friend Says

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times

JOHANNESBURG — A friend of Oscar Pistorius testified Monday that the South African Olympian appeared “broken” as he wept, prayed and begged his girlfriend not to die in the minutes after he fatally shot her on Valentine’s Day last year.

Pistorius’ murder trial resumed Monday after a two-week break, with the defense calling more witnesses.

The prosecution accuses Pistorius of killing Reeva Steenkamp in a rage after an argument. He says he mistook her for one or more intruders but was not conscious of pulling the trigger when he opened fire through the door to a toilet closet.

The former manager at the secure estate where Pistorius lived, Johan Stander, and his daughter Carice Viljoen were among the first to arrive at the house after the shooting. Both testified Monday.

Stander told the court that he was Pistorius’ friend and that they often had coffee together. Pistorius called him minutes after firing the four shots.

“Oscar said, ‘Oom (Uncle) Johan, please, please come to my house. I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder. Please, please, please come quick,'” Stander recalled.

He said the front door was ajar when he and his daughter pushed it open and walked in. They saw Pistorius carrying Steenkamp downstairs, crying.

“I just saw blood everywhere. I told him to put her down,” Viljoen told the court, weeping. “We both knelt over Reeva. He begged me to help. He was begging and pleading with Reeva as well, ‘Just stay with me my love, stay with me.'”

Stander also described Pistorius’ “broken” appearance.

“He was screaming. He was crying, He was praying,” he said.

“The expression on his face, an expression of sorrow, an expression of pain. He’s crying. He’s praying,” he continued. “It was as if he was torn apart.”

Stander suggested that Pistorius was innocent, saying he’d seen how distraught the athlete was and how he desperately fought to save Steenkamp’s life.

“I saw the truth there that morning. I saw it, and I feel it,” Stander said.

Paramedics declared Steenkamp dead about 3:50 a.m. When they asked Pistorius to retrieve Steenkamp’s identification from upstairs, Viljoen hurried after him.

“I thought he was possibly going to shoot himself, so I immediately ran up, but I was scared to go any further,” Viljoen said.

Pistorius could face life imprisonment if convicted of murder. The defense plans to call more witnesses Tuesday.

AFP Photo/Alexander Joe