Pistorius pleads not guilty on day one of murder trial
by Agency Staff,
March 03 2014, 15:17
PARALYMPIAN star Oscar Pistorius on Monday pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp as his trial opened in Pretoria with a witness testifying she heard terrible screams on the night of the killing.
Mr Pistorius, whose trial is being broadcast around the world, faces a life sentence if convicted of the Valentine’s Day killing of the model and reality television star a year ago.
After a state prosecutor charged that Mr Pistorius "unlawfully and intentionally did kill" Steenkamp, he entered a plea of "not guilty, my lady".
Mr Pistorius, 27, the double-amputee sporting hero known as "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fibre running blades, also pleaded not guilty to three unrelated gun charges.
In a statement read out by his lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, he described Steenkamp’s death as a "tragic accident" saying he had mistaken her for an intruder.
He admitted killing Steenkamp, but denied murderous intent. "This allegation is denied in the strongest terms," he said. "We were in a loving relationship."
A single judge, Thokozile Masipa, is presiding in the case that has already been likened to the 1995 murder trial of US footballer OJ Simpson. Judge Masipa has appointed two senior advocates to help her in her decision.
The first prosecution witness to take the stand, Michelle Burger, said she was woken at about 3am on February 14 last year by screams coming from the Pistorius home in an upmarket gated community.
"She screamed terribly and she yelled for help," Ms Burger told the court. She said she heard four shots and thought "people were being attacked in their homes".
As the trial got under way inside the courtroom, the victim’s black-clad mother, June, came face-to-face with Mr Pistorius for the first time since the killing.
"I want to look at Oscar, really look him in the eyes, and see for myself the truth about what he did to Reeva," she told a British newspaper ahead of the trial.
Further down from her on the wood-panelled bench sat Mr Pistorius’s brother Carl, sister Aimee and a handful of other relatives.
The state is seeking to prove that Mr Pistorius killed Steenkamp in a rage after the couple quarrelled in the early hours of February 14 2013.
The athlete, the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes at the London 2012 Olympics, will also be asked why he allegedly told security guards at his luxury estate that everything was fine when they phoned after hearing gunshots.
In a bid to illustrate a history of reckless behaviour with firearms, the state claims that Mr Pistorius on two occasions fired a pistol in public, once through the sunroof of a moving car and then at a busy restaurant.
Investigators travelled to the US to seek help from the FBI and technology maker Apple to access information on Mr Pistorius’s iPhone.
The state has a exhaustive list of 107 witnesses that includes the defendant’s former girlfriends, though it is unlikely everyone will be called to testify.
If found guilty of premeditated murder, Mr Pistorius faces 25 years in South Africa’s notoriously brutal jails and an abrupt end to his glittering sporting career.
The state has already admitted that ballistic tests suggest he might not have been wearing his prostheses when he fired the shots that killed Steenkamp, which removes a key argument for premeditation.
A year ago Mr Pistorius walked free on bail as Hilton Botha, the chief detective on the case and the prosecution’s star witness, was sacked amid a scandal over botched handling of evidence. During the bail application, Mr Pistorius’s defence team sketched the picture of a loving couple who even contemplated marriage.
CCTV footage emerged last week showing the pair kissing and flirting at an upmarket Pretoria grocery store 10 days before Steenkamp’s death.
A prosecution source said the trial would run until its completion with no planned postponements — unusual in South Africa’s heavily backlogged judicial system.
AFP
Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday. Picture: REUTERS
PARALYMPIAN star Oscar Pistorius on Monday pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp as his trial opened in Pretoria with a witness testifying she heard terrible screams on the night of the killing.
Mr Pistorius, whose trial is being broadcast around the world, faces a life sentence if convicted of the Valentine’s Day killing of the model and reality television star a year ago.
After a state prosecutor charged that Mr Pistorius "unlawfully and intentionally did kill" Steenkamp, he entered a plea of "not guilty, my lady".
Mr Pistorius, 27, the double-amputee sporting hero known as "Blade Runner" for his carbon-fibre running blades, also pleaded not guilty to three unrelated gun charges.
In a statement read out by his lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, he described Steenkamp’s death as a "tragic accident" saying he had mistaken her for an intruder.
He admitted killing Steenkamp, but denied murderous intent. "This allegation is denied in the strongest terms," he said. "We were in a loving relationship."
A single judge, Thokozile Masipa, is presiding in the case that has already been likened to the 1995 murder trial of US footballer OJ Simpson. Judge Masipa has appointed two senior advocates to help her in her decision.
The first prosecution witness to take the stand, Michelle Burger, said she was woken at about 3am on February 14 last year by screams coming from the Pistorius home in an upmarket gated community.
"She screamed terribly and she yelled for help," Ms Burger told the court. She said she heard four shots and thought "people were being attacked in their homes".
As the trial got under way inside the courtroom, the victim’s black-clad mother, June, came face-to-face with Mr Pistorius for the first time since the killing.
"I want to look at Oscar, really look him in the eyes, and see for myself the truth about what he did to Reeva," she told a British newspaper ahead of the trial.
Further down from her on the wood-panelled bench sat Mr Pistorius’s brother Carl, sister Aimee and a handful of other relatives.
The state is seeking to prove that Mr Pistorius killed Steenkamp in a rage after the couple quarrelled in the early hours of February 14 2013.
The athlete, the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes at the London 2012 Olympics, will also be asked why he allegedly told security guards at his luxury estate that everything was fine when they phoned after hearing gunshots.
In a bid to illustrate a history of reckless behaviour with firearms, the state claims that Mr Pistorius on two occasions fired a pistol in public, once through the sunroof of a moving car and then at a busy restaurant.
Investigators travelled to the US to seek help from the FBI and technology maker Apple to access information on Mr Pistorius’s iPhone.
The state has a exhaustive list of 107 witnesses that includes the defendant’s former girlfriends, though it is unlikely everyone will be called to testify.
If found guilty of premeditated murder, Mr Pistorius faces 25 years in South Africa’s notoriously brutal jails and an abrupt end to his glittering sporting career.
The state has already admitted that ballistic tests suggest he might not have been wearing his prostheses when he fired the shots that killed Steenkamp, which removes a key argument for premeditation.
A year ago Mr Pistorius walked free on bail as Hilton Botha, the chief detective on the case and the prosecution’s star witness, was sacked amid a scandal over botched handling of evidence. During the bail application, Mr Pistorius’s defence team sketched the picture of a loving couple who even contemplated marriage.
CCTV footage emerged last week showing the pair kissing and flirting at an upmarket Pretoria grocery store 10 days before Steenkamp’s death.
A prosecution source said the trial would run until its completion with no planned postponements — unusual in South Africa’s heavily backlogged judicial system.
AFP
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