Oscar Pistorius threw up in court Monday while listening to graphic testimony about the lethal wounds his girlfriend suffered when he blasted her in the head with hollow-point ammo from a high-powered gun.
The Olympic sprinter and double amputee sobbed loudly in the South African courtroom, interrupting state pathologist Gert Saayman’s description of Reeva Steenkamp’s autopsy.
As Saayman continued, Pistorius, 27, began retching, and a member of his defense team slid a waste basket toward him.
The “Blade Runner” heaved into the basket as Saayman described how a bullet entered the upper right part of Steenkamp’s head and tore through her skull.
Saayman said the shrapnel found in the 29-year-old model’s body was consistent with “Ranger-type” ammunition, hollow-point rounds made by Winchester that expand on entry to inflict maximum damage.
The bullets caused massive internal damage, he said, noting Steenkamp could have died from at least two of her three wounds.
Pistorius then sat with head bowed, covering his ears with his hands and a white handkerchief — a now-familiar pose on the sixth day of his sensational murder trial in Pretoria.
Judge Thokozile Masipa offered to adjourn so Pistorius could compose himself, but his lawyers said it wouldn’t help.
Saayman said Steenkamp died from multiple gunshot wounds — one each in the head, arm and hip. A fourth shot missed.
The judge ordered the live TV broadcast of the trial be halted for Saayman’s testimony after the pathologist argued that the details would be too graphic.
“I think that the very personal nature of findings that are made at an autopsy examination as well as the very graphic details . . . have the potential to compromise the dignity of the deceased,” Saayman said.
Masipa extended the blackout to live reporting over Twitter and other social media and asked print reporters only to “summarize” the witness’ testimony.
In addition to gun raps, Pistorius faces a premeditated-murder charge for killing Steenkamp as she cowered in his Pretoria pad’s bathroom on Valentine’s Day 2013. If found guilty of murder, he faces at least 25 years’ prison.
He claims he mistook her for an intruder. Prosecutors say he killed her in a rage after a predawn argument.
Saayman was the first expert to testify at the trial, which has so far heard from several neighbors.