Oscar Pistorius and representatives of his slain girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, sobbed today as a neighbor recounted Steenkamp's death in graphic detail during the fourth day of the Blade Runner's murder trial.A month before he fatally shot his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius cajoled a friend into taking the blame when a gun was accidentally fired under the Johannesburg restaurant table where he and other friends were sitting, according to testimony Wednesday in the double-amputee runner's murder trial.
"'Just say it was you. I don't want any tension around me,'" witness Kevin Lerenaremembered Pistorius telling a friend. "'There's too much media hype around me.'"
The testimony by Lerena, a boxer, raises questions about the character of a man who insists he accidentally killed Reeva Steenkamp in his home in the early hours of Feb. 14 last year. Prosecutors allege he intentionally shot 29-year-old Steenkamp, a model and television personality, after a loud argument.
Lerena was the first witness in the globally watched trial, which started Monday, to allow himself to be broadcast on television under a judge's order allowing cameras into the courtroom but preserving the right of some witnesses not to be shown. The boxer wore a suit and leaned forward with an intent expression as he answered lawyers' questions.Dr. Johan Stipp, a radiologist, testified that he went to Pistorius' house after hearing shots and screams on Valentine's night last year. He was one of the first people to arrive."At the bottom of the stairs ... there was a lady lying on her back on the floor," Stipp testified.
Stipp recalled the first thing Pistorius said when he arrived: "I shot her. I thought she was a burglar. I shot her.""He [Pistorius] looked sincere to me. He was crying. There were tears on his face," Stipp said.Stipp said he tried to help, but that he knew it was probably pointless because Steenkamp showed no signs of life. Stipp said he noticed a wound in her right thigh, in her upper arm and in the right side of the head, and there was brain tissue around the skull."She had no pulse in the neck, she had no peripheral pulse. She had no breathing movements that she made," Stipp said.
Pistorius knelt by his girlfriend's side, praying, Stipp testified. "Oscar was crying, saying 'Please let her live.' He was saying he would dedicate his life to God if she will only live," Stipp said.The doctor said Pistorius had his hand on one of her wounds and was trying in vain to help her breathe by holding two fingers in her clenched mouth to clear her airway.The night of the shooting, Stipp says he was concerned about Pistorius' state of mind.
"I was afraid Oscar would hurt himself," Stipp testified.As Pistorius listened to Stipp's testimony, the athlete shook slightly as he sobbed, his hands covering his ears. It was at least the second time that Pistorius covered up his ears during grisly testimony about his girlfriend's wounds.Elsewhere in the courtroom, at least one of Steenkamp's relatives also cried during Stipp's testimony.The doctor's account marked the first detailed public description of the immediate aftermath of Steenkamp's Feb. 14, 2013 shooting. The emotion of the day appeared to weigh heavily on Pistorius, who fingered rosary beads in court today to mark the anniversary of his mother's passing.
The athlete sat with his hands covering his face as court adjourned. Pistorius' sister, Aimee, walked over to her brother and put her arms around him for comfort as they both cried.