Pretoria – Paralympian Oscar Pistorius reiterated in the North Gauteng High Court on Wednesday that he did not murder his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
“I did not intend to kill Reeva, My Lady or anybody else for that matter,” said Pistorius after being asked by his lawyer Barry Roux SC.

He has been charged with her murder after shooting her dead through his toilet door on Valentine’s Day last year.

He has pleaded not guilty, saying he mistook her for an intruder.

Running across room

Pistorius agreed with earlier testimony that he was seen rushing across his bathroom the night he killed Steenkamp but differed over some details, the court heard.

He agreed with neighbours Anette and Johan Stipp’s testimony that he ran from right to left in his bathroom and that three thudding sounds were heard.

“What they must have seen was me running from right to left to kick the door,” he said.

“I fired the shots without my prosthetic legs on. I put my prosthetic legs on and tried to get access to Reeva to get her out,” he said.

They would have seen his torso if he had his “legs” on, he said.

The noise they heard was the cricket bat hitting the door when he tried to free her.

There has been a difference in forensic opinion over whether he had his prosthesis on or not when he shot through the toilet cubicle and then broke the door down.

Demonstration

Earlier, Pistorius was asked to demonstrate how he kicked and hit the door of his toilet through which he shot and killed Steenkamp.

Roux first asked him to show how high he could kick at the door with his prosthetic legs on. Pistorius got out of the stand and took up position in front of the door, which is part of a mock-up of the cubicle in his house.

“Please don’t kick the door,” Roux cautioned him.

“Show how high you can lift your prosthesis in a kicking motion.”

Pistorius swung his right leg up to the level of the door handle.

According to his bail application statement he kicked at the door and smashed it open with his cricket bat.

Pistorius got back into the stand, but did not sit down.

“Now would you demonstrate how you would have handled the cricket bat?” Roux asked.

The athlete hesitated, sat down and spoke into the microphone. He referred to testimony and a demonstration by Colonel Johannes Vermeulen, who testified that Pistorius would have had to have swung the bat in an “unnatural way” had he been on his prosthetic legs.

“In breaking down the door you don’t swing the bat in a natural way. I used my entire body. It’s very hard to demonstrate how I did it in a passive way,” Pistorius said.

He then got out of the stand and picked up the bat which was propped against the door. He swung it twice over his right shoulder. It connected with a mark, indicated by a sticker, several centimetres above the door handle.

“How hard did you hit the door?” Roux asked him when he got back into the stand.

“I hit the door with all my might.”

Roux asked him if he was standing in the same position while doing so.

Pistorius said he doubted this, since he was wearing his socks on his prosthetic legs and standing on a tiled floor.

SAPA