As he took the stand to provide testimony to a murder case filed against him over the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa saw once-celebrated sports celebrity Oscar Pistorius apologizing to the victim's family and friends in between tears. The double-leg amputee is being tried in court for fatally shooting Steenkamp at his home on Valentine's Day last year, Bloomberg said. He has since pleaded not guilty.
Addressing his late girlfriend's loved ones, Pistorius said today, "There hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that I haven't thought of this family. I was simply trying to protect Reeva."
The 27 year-old athlete was the defense team's second witness, the news agency said. Pistorius' testimony today chronicled his spiral to his obsessive tendencies to protect himself. His lawyer, Barry Roux, at one point asked him about his childhood and interest in sports, of which Pistorius answered in statements alluding to the fact that his family had been victimized by burglars as they didn't live in safe areas.
Bloomberg also recounted how Pistorius remembered incidents wherein members of his family has been attacked in threatening incidents, of which one of the incidents allegedly had left him with a swollen eye and stitches on the head following his aid to a woman who was assaulted at that time.
Pistorius told the court that he has been waking up wherein he smelled the blood and in complete state of terror following his nightmares. Moreover, he claimed that he has been taking anti-depression and sleep medication drugs and has a security guard installed outside the door of his room before going to bed.
Bloomberg said the defense team's firt witness was forensics expert Jan Botha, who earlier told the court that he was not sure in his statement that Steenkamp screamed when she was shot by Pistorius and his statement about the sequence of the shots the victim received.
"If the shots were fired in rapid succession, I think it's highly unlikely that she could have been able to call out. Before she could react the remaining bullets would have struck her," Botha said under Roux's cross-examination.
Judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to provide his final judgement in the case with the assistance of two assessors as there is no jury system in South Africa, Bloomberg said.
