Pretoria – The North Gauteng High Court made an order on Tuesday that no photographs of witnesses who don’t wish to be shown in the Oscar Pistorius trial could be used. 

Judge Thokozile Masipa said that the use of a still photo of witness Michelle Burger’s face by various media houses was “very disturbing”. 

She warned the media that if it doesn’t “behave”, it will “not be treated with soft gloves”.

Mapisa said the source of the photos was not important. 

Mapisa said there will be an investigation to find out exactly what had happened and the extent of the non-compliance with the court order.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux was cross-examining Burger when prosecutor Gerrie Nel stopped him and said he had just discovered that a still photo of Burger’s face was being shown on broadcast television.

As Nel was telling this to the court, news channel eNCA was showing a still photo of a smiling Burger.  

Minutes after, eNCA tweeted the following: “NOTE: ‘We have not shown any footage of Michelle Burger in court…’ – Patrick Conroy, Head of News, eNCA.”

“We used a still picture from the university website – also carried in daily newspapers,” Conroy also said. News24