The Main truth about Oscar Pictorius trial

  

Chilling photos have emerged of the bathroom where Oscar Pistorius’ girlfriend lay dying after he gunned her down through the door.

The luxurious stone-clad en-suite is now the focus of a murder inquiry as investigators try to piece together what happened in the toilet cubicle where Reeva Steenkamp spent her last moments.

Prosecutors argue the model was trapped in there hiding from Pistorius, while he claims his girlfriend was using the bathroom after getting up in the night at his upscale Pretoria home.

Scene of horror: This is the toilet cubicle where Reeva Steenkamp was found ‘slumped over but alive’ after being shot three times through the locked door

Hidden: Prosecutors believe that Pistorius stood near the large corner bath and took aim at the cubicle door (seen on the right) which Miss Steenkamp was hiding behind

In a sworn affidavit Pistorius stated that he thought someone was in the bathroom and shot at them because he ‘noticed that the bathroom window was open.I realised that the intruder/s was/were in the toilet because the toilet door was closed and I did not see anyone in the bathroom. I heard movement inside the toilet.’
‘It filled me with horror and fear of an intruder or intruders being inside the toilet. I thought he or they must have entered through the unprotected window,’ he stated.
Prosecutors believe that Pistorius, picked up his gun, strapped on his prosthetic legs and stood near the large corner bath, before taking aim at the cubicle door.
He shot four times and hit Miss Steenkamp three times – it is thought she was sitting on the toilet when she was hit in the arm, head, hip and finger by bullets.
The door was broken down – Pistorius claims he battered it down with a cricket bat to reach his bloodied and dying girlfriend and found her ‘slumped over but alive’.

Version: A graphic illustrating a suggested representation of the events that lead to Reeva Steenkamp’s death on the morning of February 14

Charges: Prosecutors believe that Reeva Steenkamp sought refuge in the bathroom after arguing with the athlete dubbed Blade Runner

The bathroom was the key focus for both the defence and the prosecution at today’s bail hearing at Pretoria magistrates court.
Painting a picture of a premeditated murder prosecutor Gerrie Nel said that Miss Steenkamp was shot when she took refuge in the bathroom after the couple had been arguing.
‘The applicant armed himself, attached his prosthesis, walked seven metres to the bathroom and shot the deceased while she was in the toilet.
‘He shot four times…There’s no possible explanation to support his report that he thought it was a burglar,’ he said.
‘If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated,’ he said. ‘The door is closed. There is no doubt. I walk seven metres and I kill.’
The motive is ‘I want to kill’. That’s it,’ he added.
‘This deceased was in a 1.4 by 1.14 metre little room. She could go nowhere.’
Mr Nel said the killing was premeditated because Pistorius had planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder.
‘It was all part of the pre-planning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?’ Mr Nel said.
‘She locked that door for a purpose. We’ll get to that purpose.
That is where she was when those shots were fired. She couldn’t go anywhere. It must have been horrific.’
But Pistorius’s lawyer, Barry Roux, said Miss Steenkamp was not murdered, and there were a number of cases where men shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.
He also suggested that Pistorius broke down the bathroom door after the shooting to help his girlfriend.
‘We submit it is not even murder,’ Mr Roux said. ‘There is no concession this is a murder.’
In a sworn affidavit, the 26-year-old, who broke down in tears on several occasions, said the pair were in bed together when he woke up and went onto a balcony to bring a fan inside.

Grisly: After the shooting at his luxury home Pistorius said he ‘called paramedics and complex security. I tried to carry her downstairs for help. I tried to help her but she died in my arms’

On his return to the bedroom he said he heard a noise and thought an intruder had broken in through his bathroom window.
Pistorius claimed he was too scared to switch a light on, so he grabbed his 9mm pistol – which he kept under his bed after receiving death threats – and walked towards the bathroom, which contains a toilet with a separate door.
‘On my way to the bathroom I screamed words to the effect for him/them to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police. It was pitch dark in the bedroom and I thought Reeva was in bed,’ he said.

Defence: Today Pistorius’s lawyer said there were a number of cases where men shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars

‘I believed that when the intruder/s came out of the toilet we would be in grave danger. I felt trapped as my bedroom door was locked and I have limited mobility on my stumps.
‘I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police. She did not respond and I moved backwards out of the bathroom, keeping my eyes on the bathroom entrance. Everything was pitch dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light. Reeva was not responding.
‘When I reached the bed, I realised that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet. I returned to the bathroom calling her name. I tried to open the toilet door but it was locked. I rushed back into the bedroom and opened the sliding door exiting onto the balcony and screamed for help.’

According to Pistorius he then smashed his way into the toilet using a cricket bat, finding her ‘slumped over but alive’.

Answers: Miss Steenkamp’s funeral was held today. Her family have demanded to know why their ‘beautiful angel’ was blasted to death with his 9mm gun and have begged the sprinter to ‘tell the truth’ about the shooting

He then phoned for an ambulance and carried her downstairs, but she died in his arms.
The defendant said he was ‘absolutely mortified’ by what had happened, but insisted the evidence would prove his innocence.
Although no decision was made on bail today, Mr Nair did rule that the charge would be premeditated murder indicating Pistorius, who last year became the first double-amputee track athlete to run at the Olympics, is likely to remain behind bars until trial.
He has now been driven back to jail where he will spend a sixth night behind bars before the hearing resumes in the morning.
As Pistorius’s relatives supported him in court, the distraught family of Miss Steenkamp attended her funeral in Port Elizabeth.
Her brother Adam said that her death had ‘left space missing inside all of the people that she knew.’
But there was also anger. Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked for Reeva’s father, called for the harshest of sentences for Pistorius.
‘Without a doubt. He must stay in jail,’ he said.

via Dailymail UK

twitter