A South African court has heard that Oscar Pistorius sat weeping over the body of Reeva Steenkamp, just minutes after shooting her to death through the bathroom door.
The trial of the Paralympian entered its fourth day today, with radiologist Johan Stipp recalling that Pistorius knelt at his girlfriend’s side and struggled to help her breathe by holding two fingers in her clenched mouth. As he leaned over her lifeless body, he cried ‘please let her live’ and vowed to dedicate his life to God if she recovered from her injuries.
Dr Stipp, who lives in the same estate as the athlete, said that Ms Steenkamp was “mortally wounded” and had no pulse in her neck on his arrival at the scene.
“She had no pulse in her neck. She had no peripheral pulse. There weren’t any signs of life that I had seen. It was obvious to me that she was mortally wounded,” he said.
“Oscar was extremely upset. He went back into the house, and I asked Mr Stander [the security guard] where the gun was. I was scared he was going to harm himself.”
His neighbour Charl Johnson also returned to the stand today for a cross-examination on his previous evidence. While Mr Johnson and his wife had claimed to have heard a woman’s screams and gunshots on the night of Ms Steenkamp’s death, Pistorius’ defense have countered that the couple had colluded on their statements in an effort to incriminate Pistorius.
The prosecution claims that the athlete, known as Blade Runner, murdered Steenkamp during a row in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year, while Pistorius remains adamant that he accidentally shot the model while believing she was an intruder. Pistorius has appeared visibly upset during the trial and covered his ears repeatedly while witnesses described the extent of Ms Steenkamp’s injuries.
