8:09 am
Lucy Thornton

Roux is talking about the possibility of a cricket bat sounding like gun shots.

He said there must be a reason to hit the door which was damaged the night that Reeva died.

Roux said that as Oscar was hitting the door you could not hear screaming, but shortly after that there was screaming. Roux has put to Stipp that when someone is in the toilet - a closed, confined space - you would not hear a woman screaming.

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

Roux finished

Nel having a turn... reading OP's version in a very snarky way

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Nel trying to make the point that the second set of bangs were too quick to be swings of cricket bat.....

By that reasoning... so were the first set of bangs too quick... he cant have it both ways.. one set of bangs was the cricket bat

As far as I know... it is a given that cricket bat came after the shots? I kinda think the State case is dead in the water?

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

Nel is faffing about as always... can't find his notes

Asks for an Adjournment




Anybody familiar with "Rumpole of The Bailey" plays... may see similarity between Nel and Claude Erskine Brown. (with maybe a touch of "Soapy Sam Ballard")

and of course Roux does a good Rumpole impression (at times)

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

Back... new witness.. female, also wants no photos but does chose English as preferred language.

Ex girlfriend of OP

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Met when she was 17... on fb

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

09.27 Miss Taylor sounds very nervous. She says she spent four days a week at Pistorius's house. She says he would sleep on the right hand side of the bed, if you are facing the wall

09.25 Samantha Taylor confirms she met Pistorius in 2010, started dating in 2011. She says she was 17 when they started dating.

09.25 Prosecution calls Samantha Taylor, who dated Oscar Pistorius. She does not want her face shown

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

09.32 Miss Taylor says that Oscor Pistorius DOES NOT scream like a woman, he screams like a man. She says he screamed a few times when they were together, and he was very "anxious" at her.

09.30 Miss Taylor says he had two cell phones- one for work, one for personal use. He also had an iPad which he used frequently

09.28 She says he kept a gun on him all the time when they were dating and carried it around, even when visiting friends. She says he placed the gun on the bedside table or next to his prosthetic legs on the floor at night. His legs would be on the right hand side where he slept.

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

It's sort of fitting that this witness is somebody OP met on fb (when she was 17).

She sounded like she was on the verge of giggling while relating evidence (despite the seriousness of the situation and somebody she once "loved" having their life on the line) Next thing you know she is crying as she relates OP "cheating on her"... It is as if the unreal cyber-world of fb has escaped from cyber realms into the real world.

bff "Friends" who you delete on a whim. Relationships that come and go. People who once confided in you in private that you then tell tales about to you NEW bff etc

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

09.55 We are back to the Val River incident. Roux is asking her what she remembers. She doesn't remember where it was. She says that Oscar fired the shot around 15 minutes after being pulled over. She doesn't remember what house they were heading to be she knows it was to sign "papers for guns". She keep reiterating that she doesn't know what the area was. Roux keeps asking where it was. She says she knows what the house looks like, but that isn't enough for Roux.

09.55 Taylor says that she heard Oscar screaming out of anger, but conceeds that she had not heard him screaming when he perceived his life to be threatened.

09.52 Now back to talking about the relationship. Taylor says that Oscar used to keep his bedroom curtain open slightly because he used to train at 5 in the morning. She is saying the room was "very dark". Roux asking her about how the curtain was positioned the "night of the incident". She reminds him she wasn't there...

09.52 Taylor says that Pistorius took Reeva to an awards ceremony, which is when they broke up the second time. Defence seeming to imply the relationship was already over at that time.

09.50 Taylor said that the first time they ended their relationship was when Pistorius went on a date. The second time was November 4 2012 when he started going out with Reeva. Roux questions whether they were still in a relationship. Taylor says that there were problems but they had not officially broken up. She begins to cry again.

09.48 Roux says defenced will produce e-mails showing that Miss taylor is lying about the relationship.

09.46 Aislinn Laing says Oscar Pistorius was looking at his ex-girlfriend "impassively but a bit flushed". Taylor said the relationship ended because he cheated on her with Reeva Steenkamp. As Taylor started crying, Pistorius looked like he might be about to too.

09.41 Earlier the prosecution asked her about an incident when her and Oscar went to Val River with some firends. They were stopped on the way home by police because they were speeding. Pistorius left the gun on the front seat as he was questioned by police. The policeman said the gun should not be left on the front seat and cocked the gun so the bullets flew out. Pistorius became angry and said the policeman was not allowed to touch the gun. Oscar and his friend Darren Fresco said they were irritated and wanted to shoot a traffic light. Taylor was in the back seat and Fresco was driving, Oscar fired the gun out of the sun roof and laughed.

09.41 Miss Taylor starts to cry as she recounts the first time their relationship ended, when Oscar cheated on her. Judge offers a short break

09.39 Miss Taylor says Oscar Pistorius screamed at her sister, her best friend, his best friend, while they were together.

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

Seems OP was in Scotland playing golf day after date she claims... it's not looking likely given time to get flight etc and be in scotland playing golf

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

10.27 Taylor is being asked how she felt about the break up. "I was upset" she says. She starts crying and the court adjourns again.

10.24 Taylor says he often used his phone five times a night. Roux says in her evidence she said "often" which he argues does not mean everynight. Prosecution says it is semantics. Now Roux is asking her what language she speaks, "English" she replies. "and what does often mean?" He asks, " a lot of times" she says. he says he is not satisfied by that.

10.23 Pistorius has his hands over his ears again:

10.22 Taylor says that Pistorius never kept his firearm under the bed, when she was there. Roux says that is a dispute and pistorius will explain later.

10.21 Taylor talking about his mobile phone now. He took it everywhere- to the bathroom, to the kitchen. She says "I think" which Roux jumps on- she is not sure. Taylor says Pistorius always had his phone next to his bed.

10.19 Roux is asking of a day when she and oscar was pursued by a white Mercedes to the security gates of the estate. Oscar jumped out and put his gun to the window of the car. The car drove off. Taylor says she doesn't feel like she was in fear. "Why not?" asks Roux. "I don't know" says Taylor.

10.18 Key dispute- which side of bed was oscar sleeping on. Roux says it was the left because of a shouder injury. He asks Taylor if Oscar could walk on his stumps. She says yes but it was difficult to balance. Roux asked if he was fearful of his life all the time. Taylor says not necessarily. He carried a gun but she doesn't think he was scared.

10.17 Roux being cunning here, it was him who injected the date of September 30, not Taylor.

10.16 Taylor says that she remembers because both their suitcases were in the back of the car. Roux asks how he managed to fit in the travelling. Taylor says she doesn't follow.

10.13 Taylor standing strong, Oscar laughed after, not before the shooting. Roux asks if she can remember the day, Taylor says it was 30th Spetember, she says she can remember him shooting "very, very clearly." Roux asks if she can remember that the following day Pistorius was playing golf in St Andrews, Scotland.

10.09 Taylor says that after Pistorius fired the shot "he laughed about it".

10.07 Taylor: "the shot was fired because they were angry at the police and they found it very funny to irritate the police". Roux says how would that irritate the police. Taylor says it was towards the police.

10.05 Roux is saying that according to Taylor he was not angry when he shot the gun, he was laughing. She says he was initially very angry but when he fired he was laughing. Roux is questioning Taylor's evidence that he fired out of anger if he was laughing.

10.04 Roux asks if Taylor "slept with" Pistorius that night. He apologises for being suggestive. She says she does think she styaed over at his house.

09.59 Confusion over what state said over who was driving when gun was shot. Prosecution says it was "never" their case that Pistorius was driving when he fired.

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

Trying to talk about her breaking up with OP... and AGAIN she goes into terminal weep

AGAIN we have to have an adjournment

This is so "teen angst"... so.... Face Book!

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

10.48 She says that Oscar had got his gun and walked around the hosue but found nothing.

10.44 Nel asking about accused version of events on the night when Reeva was killed. He asks while Taylor was there were there occasions where Pistorius thought there were intruders in the house. She says there was a night when something hit the window and he woke up, and woke her up to ask what she thought it was. She tried to reassure him but he went out with his gun. She says there were probably a few occasions when Pistorius woke her up to ask about possible intruders. She says there was never a case when he would leave it until the next morning to ask her.

10.43 Roux is finished with his questioning. Taylor sounds very relieved.

10.42 Roux is clearly trying to highlight Taylor's poor recall with very specific line of questioning.

10.39 Baffling line of questioning now, defence appears to transition to questioning what kind of car was being driven when Taylor and Oscar were pursued to the security gates. Understandably Taylor doesn't understand what Roux means.

10.36 Back in court now. Defence asks if she sent him two e-mails admitting to cheating on him. She says she did not cheat on Oscar but Taylor says there was an altercation with a man she was seeing after her and Oscar had ended the relationship for the first time which is recorded on e-mail. This man is called Quentin and there was a relationship between the two. They went to Dubai together while Pistorius was at the Olympics but theis was after they had broken up for the first time.

10.32 Taylor does not want her image broadcast in court but this is a photo of her and Pistorius together. They initially started going out after he made contact over Facebook:

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

10.57 There will be an early break for lunch.

10.56 An update from Aislinn Laing about the decision to relieve Samantha Taylor from the witness box a lot earlier than expected:

"Have to say I'm surprised that Gerrie Nel didn't question Sam Taylor for longer about her suggestion of Pistorius' aggression towards her (see the "angry screaming"). There's obviously a tactic here - perhaps Nel wants to see what the defence will go for and draw out more during his redirect.

Sam Taylor is, as expected, a nervous and tearful witness but she's obviously been well-prepared and is not prepared to back down on the key aspects of what she's saying. Having also taken a lot of flack on social media from the more militant members of the Pistorians fan club, she's perhaps grown a fairly thick skin in the past year which may stand her in good stead as the interrogation by Barry Roux gets more abrasive.... "

10.49 Samantha Taykor is excused from the witness box. Just prior to Nel questioning Taylor about the night Reeva was killed, there was a disagreement between prosecution and defence. Defence accuses prosecution of knowing about this incident and deliberately leaving it until the last moment, and Nel is saying that he was goingn to lead evidence on the issue before but he forgot. It means that the prosecution end on a very strong note, with Taylor saying that Oscar would always wake her up if he thought anything was amiss, but he didn't wake Reeva up.

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

AGAIN Nel faffing about... not prepared asks for early lunch again!!

He admits that he does this every day

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

LUNCH

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

BTW Mean to mention...

Several times I have seen Nel ask a question and then shake his head indicating that the witness should answer "No"...

THAT is cheating!!!!!!

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

12.20 Baba sent a buggy to Dr Stipp's house, and by then Dr Stipp was standing on the balcony. At that stage Dr Stipp pointed directly at Mr Pistorius's house. Pistorius's hosue was directly visible from Dr Stipp's house and Baba says the lights in Mr Pistorius's house were on so he immediately drove there.

12.16 Baba says that one of the guards then informed him that he heard rifle shots. Then he received telephone calls from residents including Dr Stipp who also made the report that they had heard gunshots from their neighbours. He said he didn't know which neighbours they were referring to.

12.15 Baba says that two other residents, including witness Estelle van der Merwe, also had their doors open.

12.13 One of my guards on patrol came to inform Baba that Dr Stipp's windows and gate was open so he went to see if everything was ok. He assumed they had left them open as it was hot.

12.12 Pistorius entered the complex a few moments after Reeva, he was on his phone.

12.09 When she came in Baba did not phone Pistorius because Reeva had been at the house already that day. It was alleged that Reeva had some laundry in her car when she left the estate, and she then came back at a later stage.

12.08 Baba says that Reeva enters the complex at 6 pm on February 13 last year. She was alone in the car.

12.07 There are five guards on duty at all times, and no visitors are given access without the ok of the residents.

12.07 Baba knows Pistorius as a famous person, "one who is always on TV". He knows Reeva through Mr Pistorius.

12.06 On the night of February 14th when Reeva was killed, Baba remembers four other security guards were with him

12.05 Nel is asking about the procedure for when guests come to visit the residents in the estate.

12.00 We now move on to the next witnesss, a security guard called Pieter Baba from Silverwoods Country Estate.

11.58 And we are back in court...

_________________
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