Drenched in blood: court shown photos of Pistorius
Pictures of Oscar Pistorius standing on his blood-stained prosthetic legs, taken shortly after he fatally shot his girlfriend, are shown in court.
The 27-year-old Paralympian is charged with the murder of model Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot through the locked toilet door on Valentine’s Day last year.
In one image, Pistorius is seen drenched in blood from the waist down, his prosthetic legs splattered red. Another picture showed him standing with blood on his arm.
Other pictures showed blood was found in the toilet bowl and the pistol used to kill Steenkamp as it was found by the first police officer on the scene.
During testimony former police colonel Schoombie van Rensburg described the early part of the police investigation into the shooting.
Mr Van Rensburg arrived at the scene around 30 to 40 minutes after prosecutors say Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp in the pre-dawn hours of 14 February 2013.
He testified that one of Pistorius’s expensive watches worth $10,000 (£6,000) was apparently stolen from the crime scene that night.
About eight expensive watches were found in a blood-spattered box in Pistorius’s bedroom upstairs, Mr van Rensburg said.
He added that he warned fellow officers that the watches should be observed closely because they could be tempting to anyone moving through the crime scene.
During the investigation in the bathroom, van Rensburg said that he turned around at one point to see that the firearms expert had handled the gun Pistorius used to kill Steenkamp and taken the magazine out of the weapon without using gloves.
“I asked him: ‘What are you doing?”‘ Mr van Rensburg testified.
The officer realised his error, apologised, put the magazine back in the gun and laid it on the mat where it was on the floor, van Rensburg said.
He then took the gloves out of his chest pocket, and again picked up the gun, according to van Rensburg.
Pistorius, the first double amputee to run at the Olympics, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of murder in Steenkamp’s killing.
He pleaded not guilty and says he shot her by mistake, thinking she was an intruder.