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  • From Guardian...

    Summary

    It’s been a morning of furious claim and counter-claim from the prosecution and defence as investigator officer Hilton Botha gave evidence in Oscar Pistorius’s bail hearing. The Paralympic and Olympic athlete is charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his house in Pretoria last week.
    Botha claimed:
    That Pistorius knew Steenkamp was in the bathroom when he shot through the door and killed her. There was “no way” it was self-defence, he said. He did not believe the defendant's story that he was trying to protect himself and his girlfriend from a presumed burglar.
    That Pistorius fired at an angle into the toilet door, and that Steenkamp's wounds suggested she was not on the toilet at the time. The toilet itself was on the left in the toilet room. But Steenkamp’s wounds were on the righthand side of her body. That indicated, he said, that she was not sitting on the toilet when she was shot, but was “hiding” in the righthand side of the toilet room. The toilet room is inside the bathroom.
    That the shots were fired downwards into the door, suggesting Pistorius had his prosthetic legs on, contradicting the defendant’s account.
    • That Pistorius would have had to go past his bed to walk from the balcony to the bathroom, suggesting he would have noticed whether or not Steenkamp was in bed. He also claimed he had found a holster for the gun on the same side of the bed where he found Steenkamp’s overnight bag and slippers (presumably implying that was the side on which Steenkamp was sleeping).
    That a female witness heard an argument between two people between 2am and 3am on the night in question. Steenkamp was shot around 3am. The witnesses also reported seeing the lights on, he said, contradicting Pistorius’s account that it was pitch dark.
    That any burglar would have not been able to get out of the tiny toilet room window, and would have fallen down to the ground from that height. He agreed with Pistorius that there were ladders outside the house, but said they were not near the bathroom. He said there were two dogs in the yard outside.
    • **That two iPhones and two BlackBerrys were found at the scene and none had been used to call the police or paramedics. **
    • That two bottles of testosterone and needles were found at Pistorius’s house.
    • That Pistorius is a flight risk and should not get bail because he has offshore accounts and a house in Italy. "We don't want another Dewani matter," he says, referring to the case of Shrien Dewani, the British man accused of the murder of his wife who South Africa is currently trying to extradite from the UK.
    That Pistorius faces new charges of possession of unlicenced ammunition, since the police found .38 Special rounds in a bedroom safe. Pistorius has a licence for a 9mm pistol, not a .38.
    That Pistorius had never made complaints to police about violence or death threats against him (he said he had suffered from crime and death threats yesterday). The prosecuting lawyer, Gerrie Nel, asked why Pistorius would sleep with his balcony doors open if he was so scared about crime.
    He also raised a number of previous incidents involving guns or threats of violence and Pistorius he said he was aware of, but it was unclear whether or not this was hearsay.
    But cross-examining him, defence lawyer Barry Roux claimed:
    • **That the witness who said she heard an argument lives in a house 600m from Pistorius’s. **
    • That this witness also said she heard two sets of three shots 17 minutes apart, yet only four cartridges were found. Botha admitted the witness had been wrong about this.
    That the witness could not say if the voices she heard belonged to Pistorius and Steenkamp. Botha admitted that was correct.
    That Botha did not ask to look at another of Pistorius’s phones – the one which the defendant did use to call for medical help. “That call was made at 3.20am,” Roux said. A security guard whom Pistorius also phoned heard the defendant continue to cry after he failed to put the phone down properly, the defence lawyer said.
    That Steenkamp’s bladder was empty when she died, indicating she had indeed got up to use the toilet. Usually at 3am you would not find an empty bladder, Roux said. Roux said Steenkamp’s autopsy showed no sign of defensive wounds or an assault. Botha said that was correct.
    That Steenkamp might have locked the toilet door to protect herself when she heard Pistorius shouting that there was a burglar.
    • That it was not testosterone Botha had found at Pistorius’s house, but a herbal remedy. "It's not a steroid and it's not a banned substance,” Roux said. Botha admitted he did not know the name of the medication, saying he “didn’t read the whole name”.
    That it was pitch dark in Pistorius’s bedroom when the curtains and blinds were drawn.
    The hearing will continue shortly.

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