Oscar Pistorius admits ‘no reason’ to shoot

• The aggressive cross-examination continued, with Gerrie Nel claiming Pistorius “picked on” her.
• Pistorius denied his finger was on the trigger when the gun went off in Tasha’s restaurant.
• He admitted that “objectively”, there was no reason to shoot on the night he killed Steenkamp.
• The trial revisited the now famous Whatsapp messages, with the chief prosecutor highlighting Steenkamp saying she was “scared” of Pistorius.
• As the day drew to a close, Mr Nel went on the attack – telling Pistorius his “version of events is a lie” and saying that he will argue that Steenkamp “ran screaming” from an argument with the athlete.

In another intense day of tough questioning, Oscar Pistorius admitted that he had no reason to shoot when he fired four fatal shots which killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, while the chief prosecutor attempted to undermine his portrayal of the couple’s loving, affectionate relationship.

In court on Thursday, Pistorius again insisted that he fired his weapon “by accident” after hearing what he thought was an intruder and, struggling to fight back tears, he said: “When I heard a noise, I didn’t have time to think and I fired my weapon. It was an accident… If Reeva had come out or… spoken to me I wouldn’t have fired.”

When the chief prosecutor in the murder trial said: “We know for a fact you had no reason to shoot, objectively,” Pistorius replied: “That is correct”.

South Africa‘s most famous athlete, once dubbed the “fastest man on no legs”, fatally shot Steenkamp, 29, (pictured below) through a closed toilet cubicle in his home in the early hours of 14 February last year. He faces 25 years in jail if found guilty of premeditated murder – a charge that he has always denied: Pistorius says the shooting was an accident and that he was “terrified”, believing an intruder had entered the bathroom.

Pistorius ‘picked on’ Reeva

In an attempt to paint Pistorius as self-obsessed, and irritable, Chief Prosecutor Gerrie Nel spent much of the day claiming that Pistorius “picked on” his girlfriend. He revisited the Whatsapp phone messages exchanged between the couple during the three months they were together, and said several times: “It was all about you,” accusing him of blaming Reeva Steenkamp for any disagreements.

He read out another message from Steenkamp which said: “I’m scared of you sometimes.”

Pistorius replied: “I think she’s scared of the feelings that she had for me, she says; ‘I’m scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me’. I never shouted or screamed at her. It hurt her feelings about the way I would react.”

You’re blaming everybody but won’t take responsibility Gerrie Nel

Mr Nel read out another message from Steenkamp to Pistorius: “You have picked on me incessantly since we got back from Cape Town”. Pistorius denied this, and said that they were at a “rough time” in their relationship. Mr Nel then asked if he was accusing Steenkamp of lying.

Referring to instances in other messages, Mr Nel asked if he had told Steenkamp that her accents were “annoying” and told her to stop chewing gum.

And he also questioned Pistorius about the lesser charge of discharging a firearm in public in a restaurant, Tasha’s. The accused said he had handled his friend Darren Fresco’s gun, but refused to admit that his finger was on the trigger, saying that the firearm discharged itself.

The prosecutor said this was impossible, and said: “You’re blaming everybody but won’t take responsibility” – something that is emerging as a common thread running through all his questioning.

Read more: Make-or-break time for Pistorius has he testifies in court

‘He’s gone from hero to devil’

The accused had faced a tough day in court the previous day, when Gerrie Nel forced him to admit that he had “reconstructed” some of his evidence from witness statements.

But Thursday morning saw the publication of an explosive interview with June Steenkamp, Reeva’s mother, in the Daily Mirror, in which she said that the athlete had gone from “hero to devil”.

She said: “He has an aggressive persona, he’s used to having people adore him, so it must be pretty different for him now. He’s been spoilt by other people, that’s why he struts around and looks superior. He’s gone from hero to devil.”

Discussing Pistorius’s public apology to the family, she said it left her “unmoved”, because she knew it was coming, and dismissed apologies from the Pistorius family. “It won’t bring my daughter back.” She added: “We just want to know the truth.”

‘Bitch don’t kill my vibe’

In court, Gerrie Nel also suggested that the athlete’s public apology to his girlfriend’s family on the first day he took the stand was inappropriate and one that ignored their feelings. “You never thought about them (Reeva Steenkamp’s family),” Gerrie Nel said on the second day of cross-examination of Pistorius.

He also picked up a reference in one Whatsapp message to a Kendrick Lemar album that Pistorius had played in the car – and which Steenkamp had asked him to turn off. Mr Nel suggested the song was “bitch don’t kill my vibe”, as Steenkamp had referenced this song in another message to Pistorius.

The lyrics include: “I am a sinner/ Who’s probably gonna sin again/ Lord forgive me/ Sometimes I need to be alone/ Bitch don’t kill my vibe.

“I can feel the new people around me just want to be famous/ You can see that my city found me then put me on stages/ To me that’s amazing.”

Pistorius’s fate rests with one judge and her two assessors – there are no juries in South Africa. The case continues.