Oscar Pistorius: Australian channel defends re-enactment
Australia’s Channel 7 issues a statement standing by its decision to broadcast a re-enactment of the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp, saying it was legally obtained.
Channel 7 broadcast the extraordinary footage of Oscar Pistorius in shorts and vest as he runs on his stumps with a pretend gun, as he demonstrates what happened on the night he shot Reeva Steenkamp.
It was produced by The Evidence Room, a US company that creates forensic animations from re-enactments for use in court, and appears to have been commissioned by the defence as part of its preparation for the trial.
It said it was never intended for broadcast, however it appears to have been bought by Channel 7 and aired on a weekly current affairs programme, Sunday Night, as part of its own “investigation” into the trial, which included an audience vote on whether the Paralympic star was guilty of murder.
As clips of the video spread online over the weekend, Pistorius’s lawyers said that it had been “obtained illegally”.
We would not have run the footage if we thought we had obtained it illegally Mark Llewellyn
But on Monday, Mark Llewellyn, executive producer of Sunday Night, said in a statement: “We would not have run the footage if we thought we had obtained it illegally.
“The material shown on Sunday Night goes to the heart of both the prosecution and defence cases, including the account provided by Oscar Pistorius. The story was run in Australia only and not made available to any other territory.”
In court on Monday, the subject of the re-enactment video was not immediately raised by the defence or prosecution, or by the judge, and Professor Wayne Derman continued to be cross-examined.
The statement from Channel 7 appears to contradict what Pistorius’s defence lawyer Brian Webber said on Sunday – that the footage was a breach of the non-disclosure agreement that the defence team had made with The Evidence Room.
“It has come to our attention that Channel 7 purchased this footage unlawfully,” he said. “In addition, during our engagement with Channel 7, we received an undertaking that they would not air any of the material before the end of the trial”.
The statement continued: “For the family, the airing of this footage constitutes a staggering breach of trust and an invasion of the family’s privacy.”
Click on the numbers above to follow Oscar Pistorius’s account of what happened in the early hours of 14 February, 2013, based on his application for bail (coloured orange), alongside key testimony from prosecution witnesses (purple).
Pistorius acts out shooting
The video shows Pistorius looking impassive as he runs around his uncle’s house without his prosthetic legs while acting out his account of what happened on the night he shot his girlfriend.
At one point, his sister Aimee plays the part of Reeva and is carried down the stairs by her brother, while Pistorius is also heard to call out “call the police”.
The defence team said there was nothing in the video that disputes its key arguments. But observers have already pointed out Pistorius’s apparent ease of movement on his stumps, despite his lawyer’s assertions that he is not mobile without his legs.
They say that he ran back to the bedroom to put on his prostheses before beating down the toilet door to retrieve Reeva in the early hours of 14 February last year.
But Colonel Vermuelen, an expert witness for the state, said forensic evidence proved that the accused was on his stumps when he broke down the toilet door.
The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius is in its final stages, with the defence due to call its final witness in the next few days.
The accused says the shooting of Steenkamp was a terrible accident, and that Pistorius believed an intruder had entered his home through the bathroom. The prosecution argue that Steenkamp was murdered after an argument.
