Pistorius knew girlfriend was behind door when he fired shots – Prosecutor

Gerriel Nel, the prosecutor of South African Paralympics star, Oscar Pistorius, told the court on Tuesday that he knew his girlfriend was behind the toilet door when he fired four fatal shots in February 2013.
Nel said this at the end of a four day cross examination.
He said as he wrapped up the cross examination: “You knew she was walking to you.
“You knew she was locked in the bathroom and you armed yourself with the sole purpose of shooting and killing her.
“And that’s what you did.”
“I do not agree,” an exhausted looking Pistorius answered.
The 27-year old athlete is charged with the premeditated murder of 29-year old model and law graduate, Reeva Steenkamp, who he killed in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year.
Pistorius shot Steenkamp four times in close succession through a closed toilet door.
He said he thought she was an intruder.
During Tuesday’s cross-examination, the athlete said he was “overcome with terror” when he found he shot his girlfriend.
Taking the stand for the seventh day in the North Gauteng High Court in capital, Pretoria, Pistorius described in great detail the moments after he realised Steenkamp was behind the locked door.
Pistorius said he tried to break down the toilet door, first with his shoulder, then with a baseball bat.
He added: “The more desperate I got that I couldn’t get into the toilet, the more I was crying out.
“I was overcome with terror and despair.
“At times I was screaming out, at times I was crying out.”
Nel asked Pistorius to demonstrate – for a second time since the trial began in early March – how he swung the baseball bat, this time in two different standing positions.
When the sprinter took a strong swing at the door, several steps further away from the door than the position Pistorius had described, the prosecution argued the marks the bat would make line up the state’s version.
With a clenched jaw and quivering voice, Pistorius then described what position he found Steenkamp in after he managed to break down the door.
When he checked if Steenkamp had a pulse, Pistorius, with his hands shaping, said: “I heard her breathing and so I tried to pick her up and get her out.”
Nel argued it was unlikely Pistorius didn’t shout in shock the moment he found Steenkamp in the toilet.
“When I saw Reeva there, I was broken. I was overcome with sadness,” Pistorius explained.
As on previous days, the prosecution pointed out various inconsistencies between Pistorius’ bail application statement and the cross-examination evidence.
“You are constantly thinking of a version. You are not answering the question,” said Nel, arguing Pistorius’ version of events was getting more and more improbable.
The trial is in its 23rd day and is expected to continue until mid-May.
Pistorius, whose legs were amputated at the knee at the age of 11 months because of a congenital abnormality, became the first amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics in London in 2012.
If he is found guilty of premeditated murder, he could face a life sentence, meaning he would spend at least 25 years in prison.
dpa/NAN.