Oscar Pistorius’ claim that he could not know his girlfriend was in the bathroom when he fired four shots through the door is “a lie,” the prosecution in his murder trial alleged Thursday.
State lawyer Gerrie Nel said it was “impossible” to believe the double-amputee athlete’s statements that he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.
Pistorius, 27, repeated his earlier testimony that he awoke early on Feb. 14 last year and got out of bed to bring in two fans that had been placed on the bedroom balcony.
The Olympian said he closed the curtains behind the fans before returning to bed, meaning he could not have seen his girlfriend get up to go to the bathroom.
“I do not know how Reeva got up and out of the bed,” Pistorius said.
Nel said the model and law graduate was no more than about six feet from Pistorius. “Isn’t it strange that you did not see her move?” he asked.
“It is not strange at all,” Pistorius replied, adding that his back was turned and that it was “pitch dark.”
"For the court to believe your version, we must exclude the fact that she got out of the bed on the right-hand side,” Nel said. He then showed the court a police photograph of the scene after the killing, showing a comforter on the floor on the right-hand side of the bed.
Nel asked how it had got there.
“The police must have moved it,” Pistorius said.
Pistorius repeated his claim that the comforter was on the bed – where he believed it was covering his girlfriend – and was later moved onto the floor by police. The trial has already heard how police may have contaminated the crime scene by moving items around. “That fact is that things were moved. The fan was moved, the duvet was moved,” Pistorius said.
“You’re trying, Mr Pistorius [but] it’s not working. It’s impossible. Your version is a lie.”
Nel accused Pistorius of “adapting” his answers and said the truth was that the couple had argued.
“When you got up you had an argument. That’s why she ran away screaming,” Nel said.
Pistorius’ lawyers objected, saying that no witness accounts had described an argument.
“It’s not an assumption, it’s evidence,” Nel insisted. “Circumstantial evidence is evidence.”
Earlier Thursday, Nel questioned Pistorius’ character, accusing him of being self-centered, possessive and acting selfishly towards Steenkamp and her parents.
Pistorius denies premeditated murder. The trial continues.