Prosecutors in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on Thursday showed a series of grisly photos showing the blood splattered floors walls and furniture in the his luxury pad after he blew his girlfriend’s brains out.
In one photo displayed on TV monitors in the courtroom, blood was visible right next to some of the double-amputee Olympian sprinter’s many
glittering golden trophies – while another showed his bloodied prosthetic blades.
But the TV screen next to Pistorius – who as usual held his head in his hands as he heard details of blonde model Reeva Steenkamp’s gruesome death on Valentines Day 2013 – was switched off during the display.
The images were described by G.S. van Rensburg, a former police colonel and one of the two officers first on the scene after Pistorius killed R Steenkamp, 29, as she cowered inside his locked bathroom.
Pistorius, 27, claimed he shot Steenkamp by mistake, fearing there was a dangerous intruder in house in a gated and heavily guarded community.
Cops said the volatile paralympian intentionally killed her after a pre-dawn argument turned violent
Van Rensburg described how he saw Steenkamp’s body covered in towels and plastic bags that the daughter of the property manager said she had used, with Pistorius’ help, to try to stop the bleeding.
A tearful Pistorius was pacing in the kitchen, van Rensburg said, and did not answer when the cop asked what had happened.
Police investigator Hilton Botha also arrived at the home, where bloodstains were visible in many areas, according to van Rensburg.
“We then followed the trail of blood up the stairs,” van Rensburg said as chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel led him slowly through the sequence of events that night.
Earlier, a photograph of Pistorius’ blood-stained prosthetic legs was used by his chief defense lawyer to attempt to show that the athlete was wearing them, as he says, when he broke down a toilet door with a cricket bat to get to the girlfriend he fatally shot.
The image, showing the prosthetic limbs with white socks and stained with Steenkamp’s blood up to the knee, was displayed by lawyer Barry Roux on a TV monitor.
Roux was trying to reinforce the Olympian’s story that he shot the model by mistake on Feb. 14, 2013 and then desperately broke through a locked toilet door to help her.
The prosecution has attempted to cast doubt on parts of Pistorius’ story, including, specifically, that he was wearing his legs when he broke through the toilet door with his bat.
Pistorius faces a possible life sentence in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and three firearm-related offenses.