JOHANNESBURG (AP) – The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius moved closer to a verdict on Tuesday when the defense ended its case. In early August the judge will hear final arguments that will highlight opposing portraits of the Paralympic athlete – a gun-obsessed egotist who shot girlfriend Reeva Steekamp in a rage or a vulnerable figure with a disability who pulled the trigger in a tragic case of mistaken identity.
The trial has transfixed South Africans and others around the world who recall the double-amputee runner competing on carbon fiber blades at the 2012 Olympics in London. The triumphant image of Pistorius racing alongside able-bodied athletes contrasts with the anguished spectacle in the Pretoria courtroom, where he faced a blistering interrogation by the prosecutor and sometimes wailed and retched in apparent distress, spittle dripping into a bucket at his feet.
Pistorius, 27, was among several dozen witnesses, ranging from neighbors who heard screams on the night he killed Steenkamp, to experts who talked about the trajectory of the four bullets he fired through a closed toilet door to a former girlfriend and a sports physician who treated the star athlete for years. Pistorius says he killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, by mistake, thinking an intruder was in the toilet and about to attack him; the prosecution says he shot her after a Valentine’s Day argument last year.
Defense lawyer Barry Roux said he had finished calling witnesses, and that some people did not want to testify for the defense because of the publicity surrounding the case. Roux said he chose not to ask Judge Thokozile Masipa to compel them to appear, and also noted that a psychiatrist who evaluated Pistorius for the defense recently suffered a heart attack was not able to testify.
“We close the case for the defense,” Roux said.