He claimed he had been on the balcony of his house when he heard noises from the bathroom and thought Reeva Steenkamp was asleep in bed, he grabbed his gun and shouted a warning before firing four shots through the door, a judge was told. It was after shooting, Pistorius claims that he realised she was not in bed.
'I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder because I had no intention to kill. I had no intention to kill my girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
'I have been informed I have been accused of murder – I deny the accusation. Nothing can be further from the truth that I planned the murder of my girlfriend.
His Account
'On 13 Feb Reeva would have gone out with her friends, me with mine. She wanted to stay at home.
'I was watching TV. My legs were off. She was doing yoga. At the end of the evening we got into bed.
'I’m acutely aware of people gaining entries to homes to commit crime, I’ve received death threats.I sleep with my 9mm under my bed. I woke up to close the sliding door and heard a noise in the bathroom.
'I was scared and didn’t switch on the light. I got my gun and moved towards the bathroom. I screamed at the intruder because I did not have my legs on I felt vulnerable. I fired shots through the bathroom door and told Reeva to call police.
'I walked back to the bed and realised Reeva was not in bed. Its then it dawned on me it could be her in there.
'I kicked the door open. Called paramedics and complex security. I tried to carry her downstairs for help.I tried to help her but she died in my arms.
'With the benefit of hindsight I realise that Reeva went to the bathroom when I went to close the balcony door.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel painted a picture of premeditated killing -
He told the court that Miss Steenkamp went into the bathroom after the couple had been arguing.
'The applicant armed himself, attached his prosthesis, walked seven metres to the bathroom and shot the deceased while she was in the toilet. He shot four times...There's no possible explanation to support his report that he thought it was a burglar,' he said.
'If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated,' he said. 'The door is closed. There is no doubt. I walk seven metres and I kill.'
'The motive is 'I want to kill'. That's it,' he added. 'This deceased was in a 1.4 by 1.14 metre little room. She could go nowhere.'
Mr Nel said the killing was premeditated because Pistorius had planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder.
'It was all part of the preplanning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?' Mr Nel said.
'She locked that door for a purpose. We'll get to that purpose,' Mr Nel said.
'That is where she was when those shots were fired. She couldn't go anywhere. It must have been horrific.'
The court was told that Miss Steenkamp had arrived at Pistorius' home at around 6pm, with an overnight bag.
Mr Nel argued 'It was pre-planned up until the time that he shot her. If he felt bad after that, that's something different.'
But Pistorius' defence lawyer Barry Roux said the shooting was accidental: 'We submit it is not even murder. There is no concession this is a murder.'
He said there were a number of cases where men have shot members of their own family through doors after mistaking them for burglars.
He also suggested that Pistorius broke the bathroom door down to help Miss Steenkamp after the shooting.
The prosecutor also said the athlete, had not provided investigators with his own version of what happened.
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