Oscar Pistorius ‘fired gun, I asked if he was f****** mad’
Darren Fresco, a friend of Oscar Pistorius, tells court the athlete fired a shot out of a car sunroof while he was driving, because he was angry at a police officer handling his gun.
The athlete’s friend recounted his version of two incidents in which Oscar Pistorius is accused of firing his gun: once through a car sunroof, and once in a busy restaurant in January last year.
The court had already heard testimony on these incidents from previous witnesses, but Mr Fresco was present at both. He told the court that Pistorius was “furious” that a police officer, who had stopped the car because it was speeding, had touched his gun and opened the magazine.
After they had driven off, Mr Fresco said: “Without prior warning, he shot out the sunroof. Instinctively I literally just moved over to the right hand side of the vehicle, seeing that the noise had gone off near my left ear, my lady.
He added: “I had seen the weapon being brought back in from the sunroof. Apologies for my language my lady, but I asked him if he was f**king mad. He just laughed.”
However Defence Lawyer Barry Roux pointed out discrepancies between Mr Fresco’s testimony of the “sunroof” incident of 2010 and that of Sam Taylor, Pistorius’s ex-girlfriend. And he compared Mr Fresco’s statement to police with his testimony of the shooting at the restaurant. Pistorius denies both charges of discharging a gun in a public place.
Pistorius denies both charges.
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Pathologist v Pistorius?
Earlier on Tuesday, Pistorius’s defence lawyers further cross-examined a pathologist over his claim that Reeva Steenkamp had eaten about two hours before she was killed, which contradicts the athlete’s version of events.
Forensic pathologist Gert Saayman told said that Pistorius’s girlfriend had eaten at about 1:00am, roughly two hours before her death on Valentine’s day last year.
The 27-year-old has said he was in bed with Steenkamp shortly after 10pm, and they were both asleep in his upmarket Johannesburg home for five hours before Steenkamp was killed.
Without prior warning, he shot out the sunroof… Apologies for my language my lady, but I asked him if he was f**king mad Darren Fresco
Pistorius shot his model and law graduate girlfriend four times with a nine millimetre pistol at 3am in the early hours of 14 February. Prosecutors say the incident was premeditated murder but the double-amputee athlete says it was a terrible accident, and that he shot her through a locked toilet door, believing her to be an intruder.
If found guilty of premeditated murder, Pistorius faces 25 years in prison, bringing his global sports career to an end.
Broadcast ban
The trial is the first in South Africa‘s history to be televised live, but the judge ruled that the pathologist’s testimony would not be broadcast due to its graphic nature.
Professor Saayman told the North Gauteng High Court that an autopsy revealed Steenkamp’s stomach contained “vegetable material”.
Defence Lawyer Barry Roux, whose meticulous, insistent cross-examination has reduced previous witnesses to tears, asked whether Steenkamp could instead have eaten a larger meal at an earlier time.
Professor Saayman admitted that he “gastric emptying” was not an exact science, but said his extensive experience, and academic research, had led him to his conclusion.
The trial continues.