The Pistol

Recall that yesterday we heard testimony about a pistol falling out of the track suit pocket of a friend of Pistorius' in a restaurant filled with 200 people. On direct examination of one of the friends of Pistorius', present at the incident, the gun had actually belonged to Pistorius and he had asked his pal to take the heat for the accidental discharge because Pistorius didn't want the media attention the incident would bring. When It was his turn to question Mr. Lerena, defense attorney Roux quipped he was apprehensive about cross examining a boxer. With his methods becoming ever more expansive and strident it's not surprising! Court was adjourned early.

 Today Mr. Roux is up to bat to cross examine the boxer Mr. Lerena, and he's rested up. He uses his questions to state the probable testimony of his client Pistorius. For example he says My client did not hear a warning that there a bullet in the chamber. Do you have a comment?" He goes on to say "I put it to you that..." Pistorius was angry at the friend who passed him the gun under the table and was confronting him, the friend, when in an attempt to unload the weapon, Pistorius fired the pistol under the table. Mr. Roux simply tells the witness that Pistorius was angry with the friend about that but Lerena cant recall that. I suggest the answer is not what Mr. Roux is after because Mr. Roux says Therefore it can't be ruled out, right? Witness shrugs. The witness says Pistorius didn't mean to fire the pistol and with that, cross examination is over.

Courtroom Discussion

 There was then some courtroom discussion about the fact that on the previous day Mr. Roux had read the telephone number of the witness Charl Johnson aloud in court and Mr. Johnson is now receiving threats and hundreds of calls telling him Oscar is innocent and Johnson should shut up. But Roux argues, amazingly, that the witness Johnson, an investment broker and his wife Dr. Michelle Burger, a university lecturer, had colluded and coordinated their testimony about what they saw and heard that night. He is rabidly unapologetic. The court continues to let him run on.

 Next witness Dr. Jonathan Sipp, a close neighbor of Pistorius' testified that he and his wife were suddenly awakened by "what sounded like" gunfire and a woman's screams in the early morning hours. This is the fourth set of neighbors to claim to have heard gunfire that morning. His wife who was also awakened said What was that? He said Sounded like gunfire. He went out onto his balcony and he could hear a woman screaming. He thought to himself There's trouble over there and he called securuty. Then he heard another three loud bangs in rapid succession and worried that there would be flying bullets so he warned his wife to get out of harm's way. Dr. Sipp then ran outside and over to Pistorius' house where he saw "a man" standing next to a white BMW talking on a cell phone. He also saw a woman standing in the doorway of the house. Dr. Sipp said I am a doctor. Can I be of assistance? Pistorius who was kneeling beside the woman said to him "I shot her. I thought she was a burglar and I shot her." Pistorius was distraught. He wailed Please not to let her die and that he would dedicate his life to God if only she would live. As Dr. Sipp went on to testify about the victim's wounds. Pistorius cover his ears and buried his head. Dr. Sipp noticed the victim's fingers were clenched onto Pistorius' hand as it appeared he tried to clear her airway.

 Dr. Sipp said he found Reeva Steenkamp mortally wounded. She had no neck pulse and no peripheral pulse There were no signs of life and it was obvious to him that Reeva was mortally wounded. Pistorius ran back into his house and the doctor asked the security man where the gun was because he was very concerned that Pistorius would kill himself.

 Photos are shown to Dr. Sipp taken from his balcony showing his vantage point of the Pistorius house. Dr. Sipp claimed he saw a figure through a frosted glass window of the house moving from right to left. Roux "puts it to" Dr. Sipp that Pistorius could have sounded like a woman screaming under extreme distress. And the woman was too wounded to have screamed. In the photos Roux points out that the trees and leaves and frosting of the bathroom window made it impossible for Dr. Sipp to have seen anything discernible. Dr. Sipp replied the light was on in the window and he thought that it was where the woman's screams were coming from. He saw someone walk from right to left through the frosted bathroom window.

Defense and Prosecutor Battle

 Next, the defense and prosecutor wage battle over how many sets of gunshots there were that morning. Mr. Roux seems to want more shots and the prosecutor says there were four shots fired, period, end of story. Roux promises to "put it differently" as he proceeds with his own theory. The judge tells Roux that he is "conflating the facts" from his case with those of the prosecution. Essentially Roux is insisting that the first shot killed the victim and the court concurs with the prosecution that it cannot to be said, i. e. lack of foundation. Roux says that if the prosecutor says there were first shots and then later shots they have to show him the statements or reports supporting that. He has no such documents. Roux then picks at Dr. Sipp's timeline and puts it to the witness that four different medical experts have reported that the victim was too wounded to scream as described. The he puts it that if we accept that she could not scream, then who was screaming? It could have been Mr.Pistorius, right?  And the last three cracks you heard was the cricket bat hitting the bathroom door. Comment? He asks. Dr. Sipp says the gunshot sounds were identical to each other. Well, says Roux, you heard gunshots before so you thought these were shots too, right? You had already heard four gunshots so there must be another explanation. Right?

 Dr. Sipp states that he had given his original statement to Detective Botha. He says that even though he had also heard a man yelling that night, it was softer than the screams and because he wasn't sure, he left it out of his statement to Det Botha. Prosector Mr. Nell re-directs about the three bangs and Dr. Sipp testifies that they were quick, almost on top of each other... bang,bang,bang. 

 After lunch we hear that Dr. Sipp's home is 72 meters from Pistorius' house. He's the closest neighbor. After he called security, he had headed for the scene. He saw a man on his knees and a woman lying on her left side. That's when P says I shot her, I thought she was a burglar and I shot her.