Johannesburg – Forensic investigators from America will assist murder-accused paralympian Oscar Pistorius’s defence team with his trial, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“I can confirm that a team of forensic investigators from America will be working with the defence team,” spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said.

“It’s very standard practice to work with experts during the preparation of any trial.”

She said that the team arrived at Pistorius’s Pretoria home with his lawyers on Monday.

Burgess said they would not go into the details of the investigators’ work, and that she could not say any more.

Pistorius appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on 19 August for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on 14 February.

At his bail hearing, Pistorius submitted that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.

Along with murder, Pistorius was also charged with contravening the Firearms Control Act.

The trial was moved to the North Gauteng High Court and will run from 3 to 20 March. The indictment lists 107 witnesses to testify for the State.

SAPA