Oscar was a ‘broken man, overcome with emotion’ says defence

IN A laborious week of testimony, Oscar Pistorius’s defence team used neighbours and expert witnesses to outline their case and portray the Blade Runner as a man broken by his killing of the woman he loved.

Pistorius’s close neighbour and friend Michael Nhtlengethwa spoke of the warmth Pistorius had shown towards his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at their introduction just a week before her death.

Nhtlengethwa, along with his wife, Eontle were among the eight defence witnesses to testify this week.

“Oscar told me she was his fiancee and I told him, after her hug, that she was a keeper. You could see that they were in love,” Nhtlengethwa said.

Pistorius maintains that he killed Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder. The state believes he killed her after a heated argument.

Through the testimony of Nhtlengethwa and social worker Yvette van Schalkwyk, defence lawyer Barry Roux tried to show the athlete’s devastation at the knowledge that he had killed Steenkamp.

“He was a broken man, overcome with emotion. While in the cells during his bail hearing and during our consultations, he repeatedly spoke of how he missed Reeva and of his concern for her parents. His emotions and concern were genuine,” said Van Schalkwyk.

“It was only after I read and heard what was being said about Oscar in the media – that he was taking acting classes and had learnt how to cry on cue – that I came forward,” she told Judge Thokozile Masipa.

Nel replied that it was always about Pistorius. “You yourself have said, implied and even indicated that it was about him – about him being sorry for his loss.”

Independent ballistics expert Thomas Wolmarans also testified for the defence about the gunshots that killed Steenkamp.

“Unfortunately we will never know what happened behind the door. It is pure speculation,” he replied to Nel under fierce cross-examination about the sequence of shots and how Steenkamp had collapsed after being shot.