Oscar Pistorius All-Set to Place Case in Murder Trial
After13 long months of waiting, the former "Blade-Runner" Oscar Pistorius is all set to present his case to explain the cause of the shooting.
Pistorius have always kept the stand against the allegation of murdering his girlfriend as he "denied it in the strongest possible terms."
"The allegation that I wanted to shoot or kill Reeva could not be further from the truth," Pistorius said in light of the event.
During his plea statement, Pistorius laid out details of the events leading to Reeva Steenkamp's death.
"During the early hours of the morning, I brought two fans in from the balcony. I had shortly before spoken to Reeva who was in bed beside me... Unbeknown to me, Reeva must have gone to the toilet in the bathroom at the time when I brought in the fans, closed the sliding doors and the curtains." Pistorius said.
"I approached the bathroom armed with my firearm, so as to defend Reeva and I... I, in my fearful state, knowing that I was on my stumps, unable to run away or properly defend myself physically, believed to be the intruder/s coming out of the toilet to attack Reeva and me."
However, during presentation of his case, his version will be reviewed meticulously to find the exact cause behind the shootout.
Earlier during the testimony of witnesses, Pistorius was referred as a gun-loving, hot-headed and jealous man.
While there was absence of such strong motive behind this gruesome killing, the evidence laid out by his neighbours was strong enough to indicate Pistorius shooting that fateful night.
Legal expert Kelly Phelps believed the most likely outcome would be, Pistorius convicted of the charge or a chance of complete acquittal.
"The only reason for that is because of his status as a double-amputee, and the evidence that we suspect he is going to put forward about his intense fear and paranoia [of intruders] at the time." Phelps said.
"The combination of those factors, the reality of the crime situation in which we live [in South Africa], and his objectively relative position of vulnerability - meaning yes, he feels vulnerable but objectively he is more physically vulnerable - that could be harnessed by his defence team to actually argue that his conduct was even reasonable [on the night] ... I think it's the less likely outcome but it's not an impossible one."