Police photos of the blood-spattered scene where Oscar Pistorius blew his girlfriend’s brains out show that evidence was moved around in violation of procedures during the probe of the killing, the athlete’s defense lawyer said Tuesday.
Bennie van Staden, a police photographer, took hundreds of photos of the grisly scene, including of bloodstains, bullet casings, a gun and a cricket bat found inside the bathroom of Pistorius’ Pretoria pad after the ”Blade Runner” blasted his blond model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day 2013.
Lawyer Barry Roux has challenged previous police witnesses to support his argument that officers bungled the investigation.
The double-amputee ex-Olympian sprinter made the same allegation at the start of the trial, when he pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder in Steenkamp’s killing.
Pistorius admits firing four hollow-point rounds from a high-powered handgun at Steenkamp through his locked bathroom door.
But he claims he thought she was an intruder who had somehow gained access to his luxury home in a heavily guarded, gated compound.
Prosecutors said he shot her in a rage after a pre-dawn argument turned violent and she had locked herself in the bathroom to get away from her gun-loving boyfriend.
On Tuesday, Roux scrutinized many photos taken by van Staden and another police officer and pointed out that objects at the crime scene had been moved and were in different positions in photos.
Roux also used time-of-day records on the images to show that the two officers taking photos were in the same room at points, even though van Staden testified he was working alone.
Roux compared photos of the bloody bathroom scene taken by van Staden with photos in the bathroom taken by another policeman, identified only as a Col. Motha. Both were in the bathroom at that time, according to the times shown on the images.
“You did not see Col. Motha?” Roux asked van Staden, who replied he did not.
Pistorius’ lawyer also asked van Staden to explain differences in photographs of the 9mm pistol that Pistorius used to shoot Steenkamp through a closed toilet door, and of a cricket bat that the Paralympian used to hit the door.
“It seems there was movement of the bat” in the interval between two photographs taken by van Staden, Roux said.
“It seems like that,” van Staden conceded.
Roux was trying to build a picture of a cluttered and confused crime scene with many officers working on it and possibly contaminating the evidence.
Pistorius faces 25 years to life if convicted of premeditated murder.