Oscar Pistorius Court Case, Hearing VIDEO: Evidence & Investigation Mistakes Revealed In Trial [Watch Online]
South African police on Wednesday revealed a series of holes in the murder investigation and evidence pertaining to the death of Reeva Steenkamp during accuser Oscar Pistorius' second court hearing for the crime.
The Paralympic athlete starred at the floor of the court room and cried as a senior investigator retailed details of the scene that officers saw when they arrived at Pistorius' home in the early hours of Valentine's Day. The Wednesday hearing will decide whether Pistorius will be bailed over charges that he shot his girlfriend, 29-year-old Steenkamp, premeditatedly in his Pretoria home. Pistorius already admitted to shooting dead Steenkamp on Feb. 14, but claimed he mistook her for a home intruder.
In court on Wednesday, police detective Hilton Botha testified that a witness heard shouting for an hour coming from Pistorius' home shortly before the shooting occurred. He also said another witness heard gunshots, saw lights on in the house and heard a woman screaming two or three times.
However, under cross-examination, Botha admitted one of the witnesses was 1,000 feet away for Pistorius' home at the time of the incident. Pressured by the defense lawyer, Botha then revealed that the witness could not identify the voices as belonging to Steenkamp and Pistorius. He also changed his estimate of how far the witnesses were from Pistorius home when he was questioned by the prosecution.
Bortha also told the court two boxes of "steroids" were found in Pistorius' bedroom. He then changed to say it was "two bozes of testosterone, needles and injections." Defense lawyer Barry Roux disputed the claim by saying the substance was a herbal remedy (called testo-composutim co-enzyme) and that police misread the label. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel then had to correct Botha when he called the substance "steroids."
Roux attacked Botha for not check's Pistorius' claim that he called a hospital at 3:20 a.m. after Steenkamp was shot.
When Botha said police found two iPhones in the bathroom and two BlackBerrys in the bedroom, Roux said the defense team had another phone in its possession that the police never asked about. "Why did you not come to us and ask for Pistorius's cellphone number?" Roux asked.
It also emerged that Botha had prior dealings with Pistorius, having attended a 2009 incident at the house at which the athlete was arrested but not charged.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO STREAM FROM PISTORIUS' SECOND BAIL HEARING.
The hearing resumes Thursday. Click here for details about the first day of the hearing.
