Pistorius is untruthful, an egotist: Prosecutor

PRETORIA (South Africa) — The chief prosecutor in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius yesterday accused the Olympic athlete of egotistical behaviour in his relationship with Reeva Steenkamp before he killed her, and described Pistorius’ earlier courtroom apology to his girlfriend’s family as an insincere “spectacle” that ignored the feelings of her relatives.

On the second day of the cross-examination of Pistorius, prosecutor Gerrie Nel, whose reputation as one of South Africa’s toughest attorneys has earned him the nickname “the Pitbull”, has sought to portray the athlete as an arrogant hot-head who is reckless with firearms.

“Your life is just about you,’’ said Mr Nel of Pistorius, who fatally shot Steenkamp through a closed toilet cubicle of his home in the early hours of Feb 14 last year. Pistorius says he shot Steenkamp by accident, mistaking her for a dangerous intruder. The prosecution says he intentionally killed her after an argument.

Mr Nel said he had checked all of her text messages on her mobile phone and that the phrase “I love you’’ appeared only twice in those messages. On both occasions, he said, they were written by Steenkamp to her mother.

“Never to you and you never to her,” Mr Nel said.

“I never got the opportunity to tell Reeva that I loved her,’’ Pistorius replied in a soft voice.

Mr Nel’s tough questioning was designed to counter earlier testimony where Pistorius said he loved Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, and was trying to protect her when he shot her without realising that she was in the toilet cubicle.

Mr Nel referred to a shooting incident at Tashas restaurant in Johannesburg in which a shot went off after a friend of the runner passed him a loaded gun under the table. Pistorius, who faces a separate charge of firing a gun in a public place because of that episode, as well as two other firearms charges, said the gun went off by itself.

“You will blame anybody but yourself,” Mr Nel said to the 27-year-old, the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics in London in 2012. Police Captain Christian Mangena gave evidence earlier, saying the weapon could only fire if the trigger was pulled.

Mr Nel also accused Pistorius of ignoring the concerns of Steenkamp’s family by apologising to them at the beginning of his testimony this week, rather than seeking to express his condolences in private.

Steenkamp’s mother, June, has attended court sessions this week.

“Why would you create a spectacle in court, in the public domain, in the public eye,” Mr Nel said.

Pistorius said his lawyers had been in touch with representatives of Steenkamp’s family, and that he had believed the family of his girlfriend was not ready to meet him. “I completely understand where they’re coming from,’’ he said. “It’s not that I haven’t thought about them.”

The trial, which has gripped South Africa and millions of athletic fans, is scheduled to run until at least the middle of next month. Judge Thokozile Masipa will then give a final judgment, with help from two assessors because South Africa does not have a jury system. AGENCIES