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8 Apr 2014

Pistorius: ‘Before I knew it, I had fired four shots’

Oscar Pistorius breaks down in court, sobbing uncontrollably, as he recalls “the moment everything changed” – when he fired four shots through the toilet door, killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

An emotional Oscar Pistorius told the court how he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria mansion, believing her to be an intruder, before collapsing in tears on her body.

Court was adjourned until Wednesday after the athlete’s lawyer said he was too emotional to return to the stand. During his testimony, he broke down, crying loudly as recalled breaking down the toilet door with a cricket bat to find his girlfriend’s body.

“I sat over Reeva and I cried. I don’t know how long I was there for,” he said (see video above), before sobbing through his tears: “She wasn’t breathing.”

Before I knew it, I had fired four shots at the door Oscar Pistorius

When recalling the moment he fired the shots, Pistorius said he was terrified that an intruder could appear from the toilet at any time. He described making his way down the passage from his bedroom to the bathroom on his stumps, screaming to Steenkamp to call the police, as he thought that a burglar was in the toilet.

“Then I heard a noise from inside the toilet that I perceived to be somebody coming out of the toilet,” he said. “Before I knew it, I had fired four shots at the door. My ears were ringing, I couldn’t hear anything.”

South Africa’s most famous athlete stands accused of murdering Reeva Steenkamp by shooting her four times through the toilet door of his home in the early hours of 14 February 2013.

He denies murder, but admits shooting her, believing she was an intruder. The trial is the first in South Africa to be televised, and although Pistorius has opted not to be seen on camera, the audio of his testimony is being beamed around the world.

In court on Monday, Pistorius made an apology to the Steenkamp family, saying he was trying to protect her and that he thought of her and her family every day.

Photo: Aimee Pistorius (centre) sobs in court as her brother gives evidence

‘Can’t you sleep my baba?’

Earlier in the day, the Paralympian athlete said for the first time that he spoke to her in the early hours of the morning, minutes before she died, after waking up in the middle of the night. Speaking softly, he told the court: “I sat up in bed and noticed the fans were still running and the (balcony) door was still open.

“Although the lights had been switched off, Reeva was still awake… She rolled over to me, and said; ‘can’t you sleep my baba?’. I said; ‘no I can’t’.”

After waking in the night, he said that he had got out of bed on his stumps, holding on to the bed to feel his way around, and moved a fan into his bedroom. He said he then closed the sliding doors out on to the balcony and drew the curtains.

Pistorius has previously said that his bedroom was “pitch black”, saying this was why he could not see that his girlfriend was no longer in bed. In court on Tuesday, on his second day in the stand, he added: “The only bit of light in the room was the LED light on the amplifier… a little blue LED light.”

He said he had picked up Steenkamp’s jeans from the floor, and was going to use them to cover the light, when he heard a noise.

‘The moment that everything changed’

“It was at this point that I heard a window open in the bathroom. It sounded like the window sliding open. I could hear it hit the frame…” he said. “My lady, that’s the moment that everything changed. I thought a burglar was gaining entry into my home… I just froze.”

He continued: “The first thing that ran through my mind was that I needed to arm myself, I needed to protect Reeva… get my gun.”

Wearing shorts and a t-shirt, after demonstrating his height while not wearing his prostheses, Pistorius told the court about how vulnerable he felt after believing an intruder had entered the toilet. There is no door separating his bathroom from his bedroom (see graphic below) and he said he was terrified that an intruder could be in his room at any moment:

“I was looking down the passage scared that the person/people were going to come out at that point. I rushed as fast as I could. I couldn’t see anything in the room.”

The first thing that ran through my mind was that I needed to arm myself, I needed to protect Reeva Oscar Pistorius

Pistorius had previously given his version of what happened during his bail hearing, but this was the most detailed account he has given so far. While being questioned by his own lawyer, Barry Roux, he continued to describe how he grabbed his gun from under the bed before making his way towards the toilet.

He said: “I made my way along the side of the bed, grabbed my firearm from under the bed… at that point I just wanted to put myself between the person that had gained access to my house and Reeva.”

An image of Steenkamp’s body was beamed on the screens around court by accident during the evidence, and one of the court officials passed him a green bucket as he began retching.

The case continues with Pistorius on the stand on Wednesday at 8.30am BST.

Below: clickable graphic shows what happened in the early hours of 14 February 2013, according to the account Oscar Pistorius gave during his bail hearing.

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