commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It was an amazing day in the life of the Blade Runner, Oscar Pistorius. He had spent several weeks listening to the prosecution make its case and then they had all sat out for a week while the court was in recess. But Monday and Tuesday it was Oscar’s turn which culminated in the Blade Runner taking off his blades and standing by the bloody door while howling in such anguish that the court adjourned for the rest of the day.
But Pistorius didn’t start out in a paroxysm of grief. Rather, he was subdued and quiet, restrained as he described his and Reeva Steenkamp’s last night together.
Guided by his defense lawyer Barry Roux, on Tuesday the former Olympian explained that he and the deceased had dinner about 7 pm and then, just like any couple in the modern world, sat chatting in the bedroom with the television on. Then they looked at pictures on Steenkamp’s phone. The Blade Runner fell asleep sometime after 9:00 and woke up while it was still dark.
Reeva: “Can’t you sleep?”
Blade Runner: ‘”No, I can’t.”
Pistorius then said he stepped out to the balcony and when he returned to the darkened bedroom he heard the telltale noise from the bathroom that changed everything.
Blade Runner: “That’s the moment that everything changed.”
Pistorius said he was afraid as he made his way to the bathroom, walking only on his stumps because he had removed his prosthetic legs before going to bed. He said that as he approached the bathroom he was screaming for Steenkamp to call the police.
“I wasn’t sure if someone was going to come out the toilet and attack me,” he said. Pistorius testified that he heard a door slam. That was “confirmation” that there was an intruder in the bathroom. He then fired four shots at the toilet cubicle with his 9 mm pistol, shots that killed Reeva Sttenkamp
Pistorius stated that he then searched for Steenkamp in his bedroom, patting the bed where he expected to find her. When she wasn’t there, he thought she might be hiding and searched on the floor next to the bed and also behind the curtains.
“It was at that point … that it first dawned on me that maybe it was Reeva in the toilet. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed like that … I was crying out for the Lord to help me, I was crying out for Reeva.”
Much of the case against Pistorius is based on the fact that neighbors of Pistorius who testified on behalf of the prosecution said they heard a woman’s terrified screams before and during what sounded like gunshots. But some also said they thought they heard a man’s voice. The defense is contending that the neighbors heard only Pistorius screaming and not a woman.
It was high drama in Judge Thokozile Masipa’s courtroom. At one point on Tuesday, Pistorius left briefly, shed his dark suit, and returned in a white shirt and shorts, clothes similar to those he was wearing when he shot Steenkamp.
Prompted by his lawyer, during some of his testimony, Pistorius then took off his prosthetics and stood on his stumps by the bullet-marked toilet door, which, in true macabre fashion, has kept faithful vigil in the courtroom through much of the trial. Clearly defense attorney Roux was working overtime to demonstrate the Olympian’s vulnerability at the time of the shooting.
After Pistorius couldn’t find Steenkamp in his bedroom, he realized she might be behind the bathroom door.
“At that point all I wanted to do was just look inside to see if it was Reeva,” Pistorius said. He voice started to shake and then the tears came to this most emotional of men and then he broke down in sobs.
“I sat over Reeva and I cried,” said Pistorius describing how he broke open the stall door and found his bloodied girlfriend slumped over in the in the cubicle. “I don’t know how long I was there for.”
It is no secret that Pistorius has often shown emotion during the course of the trial. He has buried his head in his hands, he has wept and even vomited on a couple of occasions. Tuesday’s outburst was on another level and it forced a brief adjournment. Pistorius was too distraught to stand up when the judge left the courtroom. He slumped in his seat and started to wail and his faithful brother and sister went over to comfort him. After a while he left the courtroom through a side door, still crying.
Tuesday marked the first time that the Blade Runner, who faces a life sentence with no parole for at least 25 years if convicted of premeditated murder, has spoken publicly about the details of the fatal shooting. Prosecutors, naturally, are calling his story an intricate lie and maintain he intentionally killed his 29-year-old girlfriend after an argument.
When the judge returned to the courtroom, she ended proceedings for the day. By then the Blade Runner had also returned, jaw clenched, to the witness box. He was composed when he left the court and walked to a waiting vehicle.
Pistorius was born without fibula bones because of a congenital defect. His legs were amputated when he was 11 months old. The multiple Paralympic medalist ran on blades made of carbon-fiber. He had to fight for permission to compete in the 2012 London Olympics where he didn’t win a medal.
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The Blade Runner’s remorse may be beyond anything I have ever witnessed. He is like some mother from the Bible who has lost her children and cannot be comforted. In a sense, perhaps, he is doing the mourning for both him and his deceased girlfriend.
Does this mean he didn’t intentionally shoot her? Not at all. I don’t know if he shot her and I have a cloying sense that he will be found guilty by the judge who in the South African system serves as both judge and jury. But I hope I am wrong. It took this horrible tragedy for the Blade Runner to take off his blades and become the fragile and all too real individual who brought proceedings to a sudden halt on Tuesday in the Pretoria courtroom.