THE prosecution is confident it has proven its case of murder against Oscar Pistorius.
“That is the state’s case,” prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the Pretoria High Court yesterday, as he closed.
This means Pistorius could take the stand on Friday, when court resumes for the defence to present its case.
It is customary for an accused, if he or she decides to testify, to be the first witness in the defence’s case. This is so that the state can put the accused’s version to subsequent defence witnesses.
In the plea explanation presented to court on the first day of the trial, Pistorius indicated he would testify.
He shot Steenkamp through a toilet door in his home in the Silver Woods Estate, Pretoria on February 14 last year. He claims he mistook her for an intruder.
Pistorius also faces three firearm and ammunition related charges.
Earlier in the day, defence advocate Barry Roux presented countless messages containing kisses (represented by an “x”) and loving nicknames as proof that Pistorius and Steenkamp were in a loving relationship and disagreements between them were quickly resolved.
This was to counteract Monday’s evidence from Captain Francois Moller of the police’s hi-tech unit, who read out messages retrieved from Steenkamp’s cellphone in which she complained about Pistorius’ tantrums and treatment of her. Moller said “about 90% of the communication was loving”.
Yesterday, Roux had Moller read out messages in which Steenkamp and Pistorius called each other “my angel”, “boo”, “baba” and “baby”.
“If you page through, you will see many crosses and loving messages,” Roux said.
“That’s correct,” Moller replied. “Can I wear my leopard dress? I only wore it to two functions, nothing media-related,” Steenkamp asked on one occasion in January.
“Yeah, I love that and you look amazing in it,” Pistorius responded.
Another message was a selfie Steenkamp sent of her wearing a tracksuit top he seems to have given her as a gift and blowing a kiss.
On February 11 the couple had a late-night conversation about how much they missed each other. “I miss you 1 more than you miss me always,” Pistorius wrote, to which she responded: “Impossible!”
The courtroom was quiet when CCTV footage was shown of the couple in a convenience store.
Steenkamp’s mother, June, bowed her head and started crying quietly as the footage showed the two kissing. The footage was taken on February 4, 10 days before her death.
Roux said it had been shown on Sky News and asked Moller whether it characterised the relationship depicted in most of the messages. Moller replied “yes”.
Pistorius sat seemingly composed while the footage was shown.
The court also heard about the movement and communication on Pistorius’ two cellphones and Steenkamp’s cellphone on February 13 and 14 last year.