News / Africa
Oscar Pistorius will testify
25 Mar 2014 at 14:58hrs | Views
Murder accused Oscar Pistorius will testify in his own defence, his legal team said on Tuesday.
"I don't think we have a choice. The question is when," a member of Pistorius's legal team, Brian Webber, told journalists after the murder trial was postponed to Friday by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
The State closed its case in the Paralympian's murder trial on Tuesday.
"If it pleases the court, My Lady, learned assessors, this is the State's case," prosecutor Gerrie Nel told Judge Thokozile Masipa.
This happened shortly after Barry Roux, for Pistorius, recalled Colonel Johannes Vermeulen to the stand to re-examine him.
Vermeulen had testified about the marks Pistorius made in the door of his toilet with his cricket bat.
He shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through the locked door, apparently thinking she was an intruder, in his Pretoria home on 14 February last year. He then used a cricket bat to break down the door and get Steenkamp out.
After Nel had spoken, Roux asked for a postponement of the trial until Friday.
"We need your indulgence to consider the statements of witnesses not called by the State and see who will be available and willing to talk to us," he told Masipa.
She granted the postponement.
Pistorius is charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp and with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act.
"I don't think we have a choice. The question is when," a member of Pistorius's legal team, Brian Webber, told journalists after the murder trial was postponed to Friday by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
The State closed its case in the Paralympian's murder trial on Tuesday.
"If it pleases the court, My Lady, learned assessors, this is the State's case," prosecutor Gerrie Nel told Judge Thokozile Masipa.
This happened shortly after Barry Roux, for Pistorius, recalled Colonel Johannes Vermeulen to the stand to re-examine him.
Vermeulen had testified about the marks Pistorius made in the door of his toilet with his cricket bat.
He shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through the locked door, apparently thinking she was an intruder, in his Pretoria home on 14 February last year. He then used a cricket bat to break down the door and get Steenkamp out.
After Nel had spoken, Roux asked for a postponement of the trial until Friday.
"We need your indulgence to consider the statements of witnesses not called by the State and see who will be available and willing to talk to us," he told Masipa.
She granted the postponement.
Pistorius is charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp and with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act.
Source - Sapa
