Oscar Pistorius breaks down in court as his lawyer argues that Reeva Steenkamp was so badly brain damaged by gunshot she couldn't have screamed

 

Oscar Pistorius broke down in court today as his defence lawyer argued that Reeva Steenkamp was so badly brain damaged by the gunshot to her head she couldn't possibly have screamed.
Advocate Barry Roux made the claims in response to a neighbour's testimony that she heard a woman's screams after shots were fired on the night the model was killed.


He told the court: 'We will have experts state that there was serious brain damage after the shot to the head, that it would not have been possible for her to scream at all.
'With the head shot, she would have dropped down immediately.'
The Paralympian was seen bent double in the dock, with his hands behind his head, as the court heard details of the bullets hitting Miss Steenkamp and the removal of fragments from her head during the post mortem.
A relative handed him a handkerchief which he used to wipe tears from his eyes.Prosecution lawyer Gerrie Nel interjected to say it was the last of four shots that struck Steenkamp's head, the first two hitting her right side, the wall and her shoulder.
Mr Roux's comments came during fierce cross-examination of one of the state's key witnesses, Michell Burger, a university lecturer who lives near the athlete's Pretoria home.
Ms Burger replied: 'As I said yesterday, I heard her voice just after the last shot. It could have been that it was at the last shot was fired.'
Her account was backed up by her husband, Charl Johnson, who said he also heard a woman's screams before and after gunshots.
He said: 'We were under the impression someone had been attacked in their house in a very secure complex.
'I remember during the succession of shots I heard a lady scream again and shortly after the last shot.' 

 

The sprinter's defence had earlier come under further attack by another neighbour, Estelle van der Merwe, who lives less than 100 metres away, told the court she heard arguing coming from Pistorius's home that night.
'I woke up the morning at 1.56am to sounds of someone talking loudly and fighting,' she told the court. 'It lasted about an hour.'
In an emotive second day of the murder trial, Ms Burger wept in the witness stand as she told how she was still haunted by the screams she heard that night.
'When I'm in the shower, I relive her shouts. The terrifying screams,' she told the North Gauteng High Court.
Ms Burger, who faced a second day of questioning, has testified to a sequence of events on the night of February 14 last year which contradicts the athlete's story.
She told yesterday that she heard 'blood-curdling' screams from a woman before, during and after shots rang out in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year.
The sequence of events, if accurate, would undermine the Paralympic gold medallist's claim that he shot Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder.
Mr Roux today sought to undercut her evidence further, suggesting that she was changing her story partly because she had not told police in a statement last year that she had heard screaming during the gunshots.
Mr Roux argued that the screams she heard were in fact those of his devastated client after realising that he had mistakenly killed his girlfriend.
He said: 'It was a stage of heightened anxiety. It was a pinnacle... It was him screaming, absolutely anxious.'
Mr Roux also grilled Ms Burger over the number of shots she heard - and whether they were gunshots at all.
He suggested she may have mistaken the shots for the sound of Pistorius breaking the toilet door with a cricket bat after realising that Miss Steenkamp was inside.
Ms Burger, who lives near Pistorius's home, rejected the assertion, saying the intervals between each shot were too quick to have been made by bat being swung against an object.

 

Earlier, the trial was dramatically adjourned over claims a television station breached a court order by broadcasting a picture of a witness.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel interrupted the cross-examination of Michell Burger less than 30 minutes into proceedings, saying he had been informed that her image was being shown.
Judge Thokozile Masipa ordered an immediate investigation into allegations, adding: 'I must say this is very disturbing. This may just be the tip of the iceberg
'I must warn the media that you are not going to be treated with soft gloves.' 
Ms Burger, a university lecturer who lives near the Paralympian's home, yesterday told the court she heard 'blood-curdling' screams followed by four gunshots on the night Reeva Steenkamp was killed.
South African television station eNCA was broadcasting a live audio feed of her second day of testimony when it used a still photograph of her, Mr Nel said in court.
He said the photo was captioned: 'On the stand: Michell Burger, Pistorius neighbour.'

 

Mr Nel said eNCA contacted the court clerk to ask if it could run a photograph of the witness that it had obtained from outside the court.
The court said no, Mr Nel said, adding: 'They still went ahead and did it.' He said the outlet found the photo 'somewhere else'.
eNCA has denied breaching the order by showing footage of a witness.

According to its Twitter account, it used a still image of Ms Burger from her university website.
Another judge ruled last week that parts of Pistorius's trial could be broadcast on live TV - in South Africa and around the world - but witnesses who request privacy, like Ms Burger, would not be shown.
An audio only feed of their evidence would then be broadcast.
The evidence of expert witnesses for the state and police officers can be broadcast on television, but witnesses for the state who request privacy as well as Pistorius and his defence witnesses will not be seen on television or in still images - unless they give their permission.Pistorius, 27, a double amputee known as the Blade Runner for his carbon-fibre running blades, pleaded not guilty to murder and three unrelated gun charges on the opening day of the trial.
Ms Burger said she heard a woman scream and a man shouting for help before the sound of gunshots on the night a year ago.
Pistorius says he was the only person to shout after thinking there was a dangerous intruder inside his bathroom.
He says he then shot his girlfriend through a toilet door by mistake.
Yesterday, Pistorius formally pleaded not guilty to murdering Miss Steenkamp after walking past the victim's mother who said she wanted to 'really look him in the eyes' for the very first time.

The double amputee responded 'not guilty, my lady' after a state prosecutor read out a charge that he 'unlawfully and intentionally did kill' his girlfriend on Valentine's Day last year.
The court was then read a statement from the Paralympian in which he claimed he had mistakenly thought there was an intruder in his home, leading him to open fire in an attempt to protect himself.
The statement, read by his defence lawyer while the athlete remained standing, said the scene had been contaminated and disturbed.
In it, the Paralympian said he did not intend to kill his then girlfriend that night and they had not argued that night.
He said: 'I deny this allegation in the strongest terms because there was no argument. The allegation that I wanted to shoot (or kill) Reeva cannot be further from the truth.'

  

Reading out the statement, defence lawyer Kenny Oldwadge said Pistorius said he brought two fans in from the balcony on the night of the killing after speaking to his girlfriend who was in bed beside him.

He said Miss Steenkamp must have gone into the bathroom while he was fetching the fans. He said he did not notice she had gone and heard the bathroom window open.
'I approached the bathroom, armed with my firearm, so as to defend Reeva and I,' Pistorius said in the statement.
He said he then heard a noise in the toilet and was in a 'fearful state' because he was unable to run away or defend himself physically since he was not wearing his prosthetic legs.
'The state has embarked on a strategy to rely on unsubstantiated allegations,' he said, citing a neighbour's evidence that an argument had been heard in his home.
According to Pistorius's statement, other neighbours living nearby said they had not heard any argument.

He also cited evidence provided by police detective Hilton Botha as 'false in material respects'.
'The scene was contaminated, disturbed and tampered with,' the defence statement said.
'This feature of the state's case will be dealt with when Botha, among others, gives evidence.'