Oscar Pistorius must face consequences of his deed, prosecutor says as judge weighs verdict
The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius wrapped up yesterday with the prosecution making a final call for the South African Paralympian to "face the consequences" of shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius wrapped up yesterday with the prosecution making a final call for the South African Paralympian to "face the consequences" of shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Thokozile Masipa will now analyse more than 4,000 pages of evidence before delivering her verdict on September 11.
Double amputee Pistorius, 27, once a national icon, is accused of murdering Steenkamp, a law graduate and model, at his home in Pretoria on Valentine's Day last year.
The defence says Pistorius, nicknamed the "Blade Runner" after his carbon-fibre prosthetic running legs, shot Steenkamp through a locked toilet door in self-defence, believing she was an intruder, and that therefore he should be acquitted.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel has portrayed Pistorius as a gun-obsessed hothead who deliberately shot Steenkamp, 29, four times as she was taking refuge in the toilet after an argument. Cutting through months of complex evidence and testimony, Nel ended proceedings by returning to his core argument. "He knew there was a human being in the toilet. That's his evidence," Nel told the judge. "His intention was to kill a human being. He's fired indiscriminately into that toilet. Then m'lady, he is guilty of murder. There must be consequences."
Defence lawyer Barry Roux said during his own wrapping-up that psychological evidence had proven the track star had a heightened fight response because of his disability and was in a terrified and vulnerable state when he shot Steenkamp.