PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) – A subdued Oscar Pistorius today described dinner at home, chatting and looking at cell phone photos with Reeva Steenkamp on the last night of her life.
Then he erupted in anguished howls and heaving sobs while testifying at his murder trial about the moments when he says he realised he shot his girlfriend through a closed toilet door.
The shocking spectacle of what appeared to be a tormented man highlighted the drama of Pistorius’ inspirational rise and sudden fall. The South African double-amputee runner captured the world’s attention when he successfully fought for permission to run in the 2012 Olympics on his carbon-fibre prostheses. The very next year, he was facing charges for killing the woman he said he loved.
The court in Pretoria, the South African capital, adjourned because of the star athlete’s breakdown, ending a day in which Pistorius spoke of the loving aspects of his relationship with Steenkamp in testimony designed to counter a prosecution picture of him as temperamental and overbearing, and then outlined his version of the final hours before the shooting.
“I sat over Reeva and I cried,” Pistorius said, telling how he broke open the stall door in his bathroom in the early hours of February 14, 2013 to discover his bloodied girlfriend slumped in the cubicle. “I don’t know how long I was there for.”
Pistorius has said in statements that he shot Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder in his bathroom. Today marked the first time he has spoken publicly about the details of the fatal shooting. Prosecutors call Pistorius’ story an intricate lie and maintain he intentionally killed his 29-year-old girlfriend, a model and reality TV show star, after an argument.
The 27-year-old Olympian faces a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years before parole if convicted of premeditated murder. The judge, Thokozile Masipa, will deliver the verdict because South Africa does not have a jury system.
Pistorius has often shown emotion while listening to testimony since the trial began March 3, burying his head in his hands, weeping and even vomiting on a couple of occasions. Today’s outburst on the witness stand was his most demonstrative, and it forced a brief adjournment.
Pistorius didn’t stand up when the judge left, and also started to wail as he slumped in his seat. His brother and sister went over to comfort him. After a while he left the courtroom through a side door, still crying.
When Masipa returned, she ended proceedings for the day. Pistorius had by that time come back, jaw clenched, to the witness box. He was composed when he left the court and walked to a waiting vehicle. The trial was to reconvene tomorrow.
