The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius wrapped up yesterday with the prosecution making a final plea for the South African athlete to “face the consequences” of shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, only the second black woman to be appointed a high court judge in post-apartheid South Africa, will now analyse more than 4,000 pages of evidence before delivering her verdict on September 11.
Double amputee Pistorius, 27, once a national icon for reaching the pinnacle of sport, is accused of murdering Steenkamp, a law graduate and model, at his home in Pretoria on Valentine’s Day last year.
The defence says Pistorius, nicknamed the ‘Blade Runner’ after his carbon-fibre prosthetic running legs, shot Steenkamp through a locked toilet door in self-defence, believing she was an intruder, and that therefore he should be acquitted.
Judge to hand down verdict on September 11
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel has spent the trial, which began in March, portraying Pistorius as a gun-obsessed hothead who deliberately shot Steenkamp, 29, four times as she was taking refuge in the toilet after an argument. Cutting through months of complex evidence and testimony, Nel ended proceedings by returning to his core argument.
“He knew there was a human being in the toilet. That’s his evidence,” Nel told the judge.
“His intention was to kill a human being. He’s fired indiscriminately into that toilet. Then m’lady, he is guilty of murder. There must be consequences.”
Defence lawyer Barry Roux said during his own wrapping-up that psychological evidence had proven track star Pistorius had a heightened fight response because of his disability and was in a terrified and vulnerable state when he shot Steenkamp.
“You’re standing at that door. You’re vulnerable. You’re anxious. You’re trained as an athlete to react. Take all those factors into account,” Roux said, adding that Pistorius had felt exposed because he was standing on the stumps of his legs. “He stands with his finger on the trigger, ready to fire when ready. In some instances a person will fire reflexively,” he added. “That is your primal instinct.”