The defense says it has 17 or 18 witnesses to call. Oscar is likely to be among them. Today, when they showed more gruesome crime scene photos, he threw up and sobbed loudly.
The other witnesses will testify about ballistics, urine, damage to the door, cricket bat damage, sound, prosthetic marking, lighting, vulnerability and disability.
Update: Oscar takes the stand. He spent the majority of the morning explaining his life and struggles and talking about his prosthesis. He was born with a missing fibula on both legs and his legs were amputated when he was 11 months old. The doctors removed and sewed his heel pads onto his stumps. Since then, they've shifted, and as a result he has trouble with coordination when on his stumps. He puts his prostheses on sitting down. He also talked about how he puts them outside at night for a while to air them out.
He also has difficulty on planes due to the cramped space, and has gotten blood clots and had to be hospitalized. He gets a lot of skin irritations.
He almost died in a boating accident in 2009 He had 170 stitches and his face was smashed in. It had a major impact on his life. He became very withdrawn and fearful after the boat accident.
He talked about his mother's early death and his father being gone a lot and being bullied and how he once fought back. His family told him to stick up for himself. (Vulnerability issue.) He and his brother were in boarding school and not told she was sick. They got a call and were told to go to Johannesberg. They did, and got to see her for only 10 minutes before she died. He and his brother mostly stayed with relatives when not in school, not with his father.
His parents split up when he was 6. All three kids were close to their mother, who had just gotten remarried before she died. Oscar said she was very security conscious and kept a gun in a padded bag under her pillow.
When he first took the stand, he apologized to Reeva's family and friends and said there hasn't been a moment since this tragedy when he hasn't thought of them. "When I wake up in the morning they're the first people I think of. I can't imagine the pain, and sorrow and emptiness I have caused you."
He never wants to see a gun again. He's too scared to sleep and has nightmares. He wakes up at night smelling blood and terrified. He said one night he had a nightmare, and climbed in the cupboard and called his sister, who came over.
He takes anti-depressants and sleeping pills now. He's lost a lot of weight.
As to the night of the shooting, he says "I was trying to protect Reeva, I want people to know that she was loved when she went to bed that night."
The court is in recess for lunch.
My thoughts: The state's case is not only circumstantial, but based on inferences. Since there are no eye witnesses, the "ear witnesses" versions differ, and there are experts on both sides with different opinions, I don't think the state met its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt for the murder charge.
