Oscar Trial: Day 24

Oscar Pistorius plugged his ears with his thumbs and retched as his defence team's forensic expert Roger Dixon gave evidence about the shots that tore through Reeva Steenkamp’s body in the early hours of February 14 last year.

While Dixon agreed with the state's version that the first bullet Pistorius fired through his toilet door hit Steenkamp in the hip, he disagreed with the state’s claim that the second bullet missed Steenkamp and ricocheted off the toilet wall – rather, he said, it hit her in the arm. Dixon placed the ricochet at the third shot, but said that it didn't miss Steenkamp but rather passed through the webbing of her left hand as she was falling to the floor.

He concurred with the state that the final shot was the fatal one to Steenkamp's head.

As Pistorius's lawyer, Barry Roux, had done with the state's witnesses, prosecutor Gerrie Nel did his best to tear into Dixon's credibility as an expert witness.

He questioned his expertise in fields in which he did not possess qualifications, such as ballistics, sound analysis and pathology.

He also questioned the conditions under which Dixon conducted a test comparing noises made by a cricket bat hitting a door and those made by gunshots.

He told Dixon that he was questioning his integrity and repeatedly asked him to stop over-explaining and answer questions directly.

Nel's brash cross-examination style brought him a warning from Judge Thokozile Masipa, who told the prosecutor to restrain himself at one point.

Nel continued his cross-examination of Dixon after the lunch break.