'You killed a person. Won't you take responsibility for that?' Prosecutor tears into Pistorius as court is shown horrific picture of Reeva's gunshot head wound
- Paralympian sobs while describing moments after shooting her in toilet
- 'I could feel her blood running down me. She was struggling to breathe'
- 'Had my fingers in her mouth, my hand on her hip to try to stop bleeding'
- Asked officer if he could wash hands because 'blood smell made me sick'
- Court shown footage of runner firing gun at melon on weapons range
- Prosecutor Gerrie Nel: 'The same happened to Reeva's head. It exploded'
- Pistorius retches and court gasps as picture of model's injuries is shown
- Mr Nel: 'Reeva doesn't have a life any more because of what you did'
- Athlete said: 'I did not intend to kill Reeva or anyone else for that matter'
A prosecutor demanded that Oscar Pistorius publicly 'take responsibility' for killing his girlfriend while telling him to look at a graphic image of the gunshot wound to Reeva Steenkamp's head.
Gerrie Nel said Miss Steenkamp's head 'exploded' when it was struck by one of four bullets that the double-amputee runner fired through a closed toilet door in his home last year.
The photograph showed a side view of the model's head, with a mass of blood and human tissue on the back and upper parts. Her eyes were closed.
'It's time that you look at it,' Nel thundered indignantly on the first day of his cross-examination.
'I remember,' Pistorius said, becoming distraught and turning away from where the photo was shown on a TV screen next to him to audible gasps in the courtroom.
'I don't have to look at a picture. I was there.'
Pistorius, his voice rising and starting to sob, said his hands had touched her brain tissue when he claims he tried to help her after the shooting.
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Overcome with emotion: Oscar Pistorius returns to court for a third day on the witness stand after sobbing uncontrollably while describing the moment he fired the fatal shots at Reeva Steenkamp
Back on the stand: Pistorius (centre) is accompanied by relatives as he walks to the high court in Pretoria
Mr Nel had set the stage for a rigorous cross-examination by demanding that Pistorius openly say he killed his girlfriend, sharply challenging him when he said he made a 'mistake.'
Mr Nel shouted: 'You made a mistake? You killed a person, that's what you did! You used to be a model to disabled athletes everywhere.
'You shot and killed her, won't you take responsibility for that?'
He asked Pistorius to say he 'shot and killed her', but the amputee runner refused, replying merely: 'I did.'
Mr Nel tried to drive a wedge between the rosy former image of Pistorius and the ideals the runner has said he aspires to, and the prosecution depiction of the runner as a hothead with a gun obsession.
Making a case for his defence: Pistorius, who has not consented to being shown while giving evidence, has spoken in court of his desperate attempt to resuscitate Miss Steenkamp
'I did not intend to kill Reeva, milady, or anyone else' Pistorius has publicly denied killing either his girlfriend or the intruder he believed to be behind the door
The prosecutor asked Pistorius if people looked up to him as a sporting hero, if he wouldn't hide anything and if he lived by Christian principles.
'I'm here to tell the truth, I'm here to tell the truth as much as I can remember,' Pistorius said. He also said: 'I'm human. I have sins.'
Mr Nel then went on to ask whether Pistorius, well-known as a weapons enthusiast, knew what a 'zombie stopper' was, to which Pistorius replied 'No'.
After a brief adjournment, the court then viewed video footage previously broadcast on Sky News of Pistorius firing a handgun at a watermelon at a shooting range.
As the melon disintegrates, a male voice off-camera that sounds like Pistorius says: 'It's a lot softer than brains. But (bleep) it's like a zombie stopper.'
Gruelling: Pistorius leaves court after facing a barrage of ferocious questioning from prosecutor Gerrie Nel
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel tried to drive a wedge between the rosy former image of Pistorius and the ideals the runner has said he aspires to and the prosecution depiction of the runner as a hothead with a gun obsession
Pistorius admitted it was his voice, leading to Mr Nel to press him on his motives for wanting to see the water melon explode.
'You know that the same happened to Reeva's head. It exploded. I'm going to show you, the exact same effect (of) the bullet that went into her head,' he said.
As he spoke, Mr Nel projected a forensic photograph of Miss Steenkamp's head, with the side and back matted with blood and brain tissue, on the court monitors.
'Take responsibility for what you have done,' he told Pistorius, eliciting gasps from the packed public gallery.
Pistorius hid his head in his hands in the witness stand, rocking from side to side, sobbing and saying he took responsibility 'but I will not look'.
During an adjournment to allow the athlete to compose himself, Miss Steenkamp's mother June told reporters that she had agreed to it being shown because she wanted him to see it.
MailOnline has chosen not to show the picture.
Later, Mr Nel repeatedly pushed the runner to answer exactly what he meant that he 'accidentally' fired his gun.
Pistorius responded: 'The accident was that I discharged my firearm in the belief that an intruder was coming out to attack me.'
Demanding a 'yes or no' answer, Mr Nel snapped back: 'Reeva doesn't have a life any more because of what you did. Please answer and don't think of implications to you.
As the questioning grew more intense, Pistorius began to break down again, prompting Mr Nel to ask if he was alright.
'No I'm not feeling okay. My life is on the line,' he said.
Brave: Miss Steenkamp's mother June is comforted as she listens to evidence about her daughter's gunshot wounds and the athlete's vain attempts to stop her bleeding after shooting her in the toilet
Traumatic: Pistorious's sister Amiee wipes away tears as she listens to evidence from her brother about the immediate aftermath of the shooting
Hard to hear: Aimee Pistorius (second right) grimaces as her brother gives a graphic account of the moments after he shot Miss Steenkamp dead
Grief: Gina Myers, Reeva Steenkamp's best friend, is overcome with emotion as she listens to Oscar Pistorius's testimony about the night he killed the model
'I'M HUMAN, I HAVE SINS' HIGHLIGHTS OF A BRUISING DAY ON THE STAND
'You are a model for sportsmen, disabled and abled bodied sportsmen, all over the world... you shot and killed her. Won't you take responsibility for that?'
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel opening his cross-examination
'You know that the same happened to Reeva's head. It exploded. I'm going to show you'
'You know that the same happened to Reeva's head. It exploded. I'm going to show you'
Mr Nel before telling Pistorius to look at an image of Reeva Steenkamp's injuries
'I made a mistake. My mistake was that I took Reeva's life... I did not intend to kill Reeva, m'lady, or anyone else for that matter'
'I made a mistake. My mistake was that I took Reeva's life... I did not intend to kill Reeva, m'lady, or anyone else for that matter'
Oscar Pistorius denies intentionally killing his girlfriend
'I'm here to tell the truth.... I'm human. I have sins'
'I'm here to tell the truth.... I'm human. I have sins'
Pistorius after being asked if he lived by Christian principles
'I knelt down over Reeva. I had her head on my left shoulder and I could feel her blood was running down on me. I thought I felt her breathing'
'I knelt down over Reeva. I had her head on my left shoulder and I could feel her blood was running down on me. I thought I felt her breathing'
The Paralympian on finding the model after shooting her in the toilet
'I had my fingers in her mouth to help to breathe. I had my hand on her hip to try to stop the bleeding'
'I had my fingers in her mouth to help to breathe. I had my hand on her hip to try to stop the bleeding'
Pistorius on his attempt to resuscitate Miss Steenkamp
'Reeva had already died while I was holding her so I knew there was nothing they could do for her. I asked a policeman if I could wash my hands because the smell was making me throw up'
'Reeva had already died while I was holding her so I knew there was nothing they could do for her. I asked a policeman if I could wash my hands because the smell was making me throw up'
Pistorius describes the immediate aftermath of her death.
'Reeva doesn't have a life any more because of what you did. Please answer and don't think of implications to you'
Mr Nel attacks Pistorius's claim he fired at Miss Steenkamp accidentally
Earlier, Pistorius described how Reeva Steenkamp died in his arms as he made frantic attempts to resuscitate her and stop the bleeding after gunning her down.
The double-amputee was giving evidence for a third day, returning to the witness box after wailing yesterday while describing the moment he realised he had fatally shot his girlfriend by mistake.
He also denied any intention to kill girlfriend Miss Steenkamp or the intruder he believed to be behind the door.
'I did not intend to kill Reeva, milady, or anyone else,' he told the court.
In early evidence today, Pistorius mostly kept his composure, though his voice quavered while describing what he said were his desperate attempts to save the 29-year-old model.
He said: 'I knelt down over Reeva.
'She was sitting with her weight on top of the toilet bowl. I checked to see if she was breathing and she wasn't.
'I pulled her weight on to me and I sat there crying for some time.
'I had her head on my left shoulder and I could feel her blood was running down on me. I could see that her arm was broken.
'I thought I felt her breathing. She was struggling to breathe.'
He said he could barely pick her up, so placed her 'softly' on a bathmat while he went to open the bedroom door and the front door.
He then went back to the bathroom and carried her downstairs.
In between sobbing and long pauses, he said: 'I couldn't pick her up.
'I was struggling to pick her up. I was scares that I had hurt her more. I put her arm onto her body.'
At that point, he came across neighbour Johan Stander and his daughter.
'Before I put her down, I said "we need to get her to the hospital, we need to get her to the hospital".
'They said the ambulance is on its way. Then I just sat with her and waited for the ambulance to arrive.
'I had my fingers in her mouth to help to breathe. I had my hand on her hip to try to stop the bleeding'.
Pistorius, who has not consented to being shown while giving evidence, said paramedics arrived a short time later.
'I stood back when they arrived and stood a couple of metres away from them,' he added.
Evidence: A still image from video shown to the court that features Oscar Pistorius shooting a melon with the same type of gun that killed his girlfriend just months before her death
Footage: The video shown to the court also features Pistorius firing a shotgun. His defence lawyers claimed the decision to show the clip was an 'ambush' by the prosecution, but later agreed it could go ahead
'Reeva had already died while I was holding her so I knew there was nothing they could for her.
'The paramedic lady said she would like to inform me that Reeva had passed.'
He said two officers in civilian clothing arrived later.
'I was just sitting on the floor crying,' he told the judge.
'I asked a policeman if I could wash my hands because the smell was making me throw up.'
Earlier, Pistorius had kicked at and swung a bat at the bullet-marked toilet door, which had been placed in the courtroom as evidence.
It was a re-enactment of parts of the night when he killed Steenkamp.
He said he tried to kick the door down with his prosthetic legs and then bashed it with a cricket bat, an attempt to show he had tried to help Steenkamp.
THE MAN TRYING TO TEAR HOLES IN PISTORIUS'S ACCOUNT OF THE KILLING
'You killed a person! Won't you take responsibility for that?' State prosecutor Gerrie Nel gestures as he cross-examines Oscar Pistorius during his trial
Gerrie Nel is considered South Africa's top state prosecutor.
He is most famous for sending to jail ex-Interpol president and South Africa's former police chief Jackie Selebi, proving he had taken bribes from an organised crime network.
The prosecution won him an award from the International Association of Prosecutors, but he has not always emerged unscathed from his tangles with power.
In 2008, at the height of the Selebi controversy, Nel was arrested by armed police in front of his family.
Charges of fraud, perjury and 'defeating the ends of justice' were eventually dropped, with commentators decrying an attempt to discredit him.
His elite investigations unit, the Scorpions, was later disbanded amid allegations it was pursuing graft and other charges against now President Jacob Zuma with politically motivated zeal.
It was then he joined the government prosecutor's office.
Nel is described as a master of presenting evidence by legal analysts.
In Pistorius's bail hearing last year, Nel painted a picture of Pistorius as a man who was 'willing and ready to fire and kill' and Steenkamp as cowering, terrified and hiding in the toilet before Pistorius shot through the toilet door to kill her.
'She couldn't go anywhere,' Nel said in court last February. 'It must have been horrific.'
With no direct witnesses, Nel's main task is to pick holes in Pistorius' version of events and cast doubt on the veracity of his testimony about a perceived burglar.
Yesterday, Pistorius took off his prosthetic legs and stood next to the very door he fired through before wailing loudly as he described Miss Steenkamp's final moments.
'Before I knew it, I'd fired four shots,' he told the court, his voice quivering with emotion.
The sprinter wept so uncontrollably as he spoke of finding the model unconscious on the other side of the door that it forced the adjournment of his trial for the day.
He recounted hearing a window sliding open in his bathroom in the middle of the night on Valentine's Day last year.
Conditioned by years of living in crime-ridden South Africa, he said the noises convinced him someone was breaking into his luxury Pretoria home.
'That's the moment that everything changed,' he said, his voice tense with emotion.
He grabbed his gun from under the bed and told Miss Steenkamp to take cover thinking she was also in the bedroom, he told the court.
He said he then went to investigate the noise, shouting in terror at the suspected burglar with his firearm trained in front of him.
He said: 'I noticed that the bathroom window was open. I was with my back against the wall.
'I wasn't sure if the intruders were in the toilet or around the corner at that point.
'Then I heard a noise from inside the toilet that I perceived to be someone coming out of the toilet.
'Before I knew it I had fired four shots at the door.
'My ears were still ringing. I couldn't hear anything, so I kept shouting for Reeva to phone the police.
'I was still scared to retreat because I wasn't sure if there was somebody on the ladder or someone in the toilet.
He said he then went back to the bedroom and realised Miss Steenkamp wasn't there.
'I didn't want to believe it could be Reeva inside the toilet. I didn't know what to do. I kicked the door. I was crying out, I was screaming. I have never screamed like that.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2600372/Pistorius-returns-day-witness-box-breaking-describing-moment-killed-girlfriend.html#ixzz2yPCK5AGB
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