12.26 The restaurant manager is being shown pictures of the damage caused by the gunshot

12.22 Loupis said after the shot went off, Fresco told him the gun fell out of his tracksuit pants and went off by accident.

12.15 Fifth witness now called up, Jason Loupis - the manager of Tasha's restaurant, where Pistorius accidentally fired a shot. He will give evidence away from the camera.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

WHY in heavens name are we wasting so much time on a gun going off? Nobody was shot at. nobody was accidentally shot either.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Done with the restaurant owner.... *yawn*

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Oh gawd... now we have the owner's wife

Also NO CAMERA

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

12.33 Rattling through witnesses first. Took nearly two days to hear first witness, now we're Loupis' wife Maria is now giving evidence.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Prosecution not fully prepared... asked to adjourn until tomorrow



12.40pm GMT State prosecutor Gerrie Nel asks for an adjournment while a new witness is prepared, and the judge says the court will sit again tomorrow morning. It looks unlikely that this trial will be over in three weeks as expected if it continues at this rate.

The trial has been adjourned.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Summary before morning break

• The chief defence lawyer in Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial sought to undermine the prosecution testimony of couple Michelle Burger and Charl Johnson, who say they heard screams and gunfire the night the athlete fatally shot his girlfriend.

• At the beginning of day three’s proceedings prosecutor Gerrie Nel said Johnson’s telephone number had been read out in court a day earlier and he had received a “large amount” of calls and a threat that said: “Why are you lying in court? You know Oscar didn’t kill Reeva. It’s not cool.”

• Roux argued that similarities in the couple’s accounts indicated that they had conferred over their answers, which Johnson denied.

• Johnson told the court he heard the cries of a woman and gun shots around the time that Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp.

• Defence lawyer Barry Roux said there were differences between Johnson and Burger’s statements to the police and their testimony, implying they had coordinated the evidence they gave in court.

• Roux said that key elements in the couple’s testimony of the couple were missing in evidence given to police, including that they heard a woman’s screams rising and becoming more intense and scared, and that they heard the same woman’s voice “fading” after a volley of gunshots.

• Roux tried to establish that Johnson had been woken up by the sound of Pistorius breaking down the door of the bathroom where Steenkamp was found, rather than gunshots, but Johnson said he remained convinced that he had heard gunshots.

Summary of day three

• Professional boxer Kevin Lerena, a friend of Pistorius, said the sprinter accidentally fired a gun in a restaurant and asked his friend to take the blame, in a separate firearms related charge. The 27-year-old is charged with the murder of 29-year-old model Ms Steenkamp and also faces 3 firearms charges.

• Jason and Maris Loupis, from the restaurant said the group Pistorius was in were apologetic and left soon after the incident.

• Earlier, the chief defence lawyer Barry Roux sought to undermine the prosecution testimony of couple Michelle Burger and Charl Johnson, neighbours of Pistorius who say they heard screams before shots were fired on the night the athlete fatally shot his girlfriend.

• Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said Johnson’s telephone number had been read out in court a day earlier by Roux and he had received a “large amount” of calls and a threat which said: “Why are you lying in court? You know Oscar didn’t kill Reeva. It’s not cool.”

•Roux argued that similarities in the Burger’s and Johnson’s accounts indicated that they had conferred over their answers, which Johnson denied.

The Daily Maverick

Pistorius Trial, Day 3
05 Mar 2014 09:22 (South Africa)

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/ ... xfjDM4xjB0

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

The State vs Oscar Pretorius (Murder 1)



Trial Day 4

Start 9:30 AM Thursday (3-6-14)

9:00AM J/Burg ----> 2:00AM ET ----> 1:00AM CT ---->12:00AM MT ---->11:00PM PT





Links for Live Streaming

telegraph.co.uk: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... trial.html

wildabouttrial: http://www.wildabouttrial.com/one_off/o ... ve-stream/

channel24.co.za: http://www.channel24.co.za/TV/News/DStv ... d-20140228

mybroadband.co.za: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/ ... aming.html

Mirror.co.uk: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news ... es-3201648




Twitter

wildabouttrial: https://twitter.com/wildabouttrial

#pretorius https://twitter.com/search?q=%23pretorius&src=hash

Oscar Trial Channel: https://twitter.com/oscartrial199

Factual Updates https://twitter.com/OscarHardTruth

GeraldImrayAP: https://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP



Live Blog

Mirror: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news ... es-3201648

Sky: http://news.sky.com/story/1219991/pisto ... om-updates

Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/m ... rius-trial

telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -live.html

dailymaverick: http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

07.30 It looks as though Charl Jonhson, who lived in the next estate over to Pisotrius at the time of the shooting, is back on the stand. The defence had asked for his notes on the incident to be made available to the court.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Two of #OscarPistorius ex-girlfriends are having coffee near the court. They may testify today. Told to 'expect fireworks.'

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

07.38 Mr Johnson, who is not giving evidence before the camera, concedes he did talk with his wife about what happened that night after the defence marks the similarities between his and his wife's statements.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

07.49 Roux is now asking him whether his wife destroyed her notes. Mr Johnson says he does not know as they were on her own computer

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

08.00 It's getting pretty ugly now: Pistorius' lawyer Roux says Mr Johnson's statement is a "design" to "incriminate" Pistorius. Mr Johnson replies: "I have no reason to".

Neither the judge or witness is understanding following Roux's questioning.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

08.12 "I didn't not count the number of shots that were fired, my wife rcalls four or fire shots", she says.

08.08 Mr Johnson says he wrote these notes a year ago not as a verbatim record but just to job memory in future. "I'm being questioned along a very strong line of questioning", he says, soundign mroe than a littel fed up.

Our reporter in court:

Johnson: "I'm being questioned on something that I wrote as a rough draft, probably when I was in the office meant to be doing other work."

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

08.21 Mr Johnson says: "I had not made up in my mind that Oscar was guilty, I just felt morally obliged to give a neutral version of events"

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

08.58 Court has just adjourned. They never seem to sit for longer than 1.5 hours at a time.

08.52 Roux cross-examines Mr Johnson: "I put it to you that you live too far away from Pistorius' house to have heard any shots. deceased was in the toilet, door was locked, window was closed...on objective facts...you wouldn't have heard screams." Mr Johnson says sound travels extremely far in his area - they even hear jackal calls from a nearby game reserve.

Roux puts it to Johnson: "There's no way that even standing on the balcony, even standing closer, that you wd've been able to hear screams"

08.45 Mr Johnson says he definitely heard gunshots because his senses were sharp and acute after being woken up and making phone call.

08.30 Mr Johnson says he owns a 9mm pistol, so is familiar with sounds of gun.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

On a break

So... it has been mentioned that the wife has deleted all her notes and files

Yeah...right. Wouldn't anybody involved in such a historic huge trial and media event delete computer files?

I think NOT!!!!!!

My guess is that she would have drafted and reworked her version... she clearly has a notion of what happened and is determined to mould her testimony to push that. Her computer files would have shown a LOT I think. My guess is that she got rid of them intentionally.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

10.30 He drove car to Psitorius' house. There was a woman standing in the door. Mr Stipp, a doctor, offered to help and he was shown a woman lying on her back on the floor.

10.27 Lights were on in Pistorius' bathroom when his neighbour 72m away heard a "woman scream". This contradicts Pistorius' claim in his statement that he didn't dare switch any lights on.

10.24 Mr Stipp said: "I went inside bedroom and called Silverwood Security, then tried 1011 - that seemed to be out of order, while I was thinking what number to dial next, I then heard three more bangs. I told them what I heard and I said 'please send someone'." I then heard a man's voice shouting 'help, help, help'.

10.15 Johan Stipp, a radiologist and another neighbour is Silverwoods estate is now giving evidence. He says he was woken by three lod bangs. He got up out of bed and looked out of his balcony. He then heard screaming, what shouted like a woman screaming three or four times. He then phoned security. He thinks he heard shots and then screams.

#OscarPistorius Will be intersting if Stipp is the witness who arrived at Pistorius' house straight after shooting.
— Gerald Imray (@GeraldImrayAP) March 6, 2014

Our correspondent in court, Aislinn Laing, says there was a short panic in court as Twitter appears to be down in court. Power is also out in large parts of Johannesburg because of the bad weather. She send us this over old-fashioned email:

Mr Stipp says he and his wife were watching the TV series The Room before going to bed.

"I was awakened by three loud bangs and I remember my wife asking me what was that - I said: 'I think it's gunshots'.

"I got out of bed and went to the balcony. As I looked out trying to ascertain where it was coming from, I heard screaming. It sounded to me like it was a female. She screamed three or four times. I went back into the room and phoned security."

Gerrie Nel asks him how much time there was between the bangs and screams. "I think a few moments," he replies. "I heard the banging, got out of bed and as I went outside I heard the screams."

10.11 Mr Johnson has finally be excused after two days. The next witness (number eight) is called - he will not give evidence on camera.

10.04 Prosecutor Nel is giving him somewhat an easier time. He is going through his statement again - Mr Johnson saying the sounds were more like distress calls and shouting rather than just screams.

09.55 We're back in court. Judge now reprimanding journalists and public in gallery after a phone flash went off when the witness was giving evidence.

09.21 This from a Johannesburg reporter. Pretty odd thing to do:

#OscarPistorius Seems like an advocate colleague of Roux's has brought his kids in to meet Pistorius.
— Charl du Plessis (@CharlduPlessc) March 6, 2014

09.20 Pistorius' sister Aimee has approached Reeva's cousin Kim. Kim placed a consoling arm on her. Aimee tearful as they chat. Meanwhile, the athlete is busy writing notes:

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light