#Pistorius's toilet door is no longer installed in the courtroom

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___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

8:21 amLucy Thornton
Oscar Pistorius' family have arrived in the court room, with his Uncle Arnold chatting to journalists.

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8:25 am
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel and defence barrister Barry Roux are both in court, ready for the judge to begin.

There are four possible verdicts the judge could return in relation to the shooting of Reeva; premeditated murder, murder, culpable homicide, and not guilty.

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

8:28 amLucy Thornton
We are all sat waiting,

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel arrives and is surrounded by all his witnesses.

Oscar is sat in the dock and defence barrister Barry Roux is sat chatting to solicitor Kenny Oldwadge.

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Kick off....

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8:34 am
Judge Masipa arrives in court.

She has a huge document in front of her and tells Pistorius he can be seated.

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___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

8:37 am
Judge Masipa starts by outlining the layout of Pistorius' house in Pretoria, where he and Reeva had been staying on the night of February 13 2013.

She says on that night the accused spent the evening at his home with Reeva.

In the early hours of the following morning, the accused shot and killed Reeva while she was inside a locked toilet, the judge says. As a result, he was charged with her murder.

She also outlines the firearms charges against the athlete.

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8:42 am
The graphic below shows a summary of the firearms charges Pistorius is also facing, and the possible sentences if he is found guilty.

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8:48 am
Pistorius pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The judge goes on to say that the accused described the shooting of Reeva as a "tragic" incident, after he mistook her for an intruder or intruders who posed an "imminent threat" to him and his girlfriend.

She reads from his explanation of plea.

8:49 am
The accused admitted that the gunshot wounds on Reeva were inflicted by him, the judge says.

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9:00 am
She talks about issues that were raised during the trial, such as police contamination and the authenticity of photos.

But she says these "pale into insignificance" with regard to other evidence.

8:58 am
The judge says both sides agree the accused fired the fatal shots; that the deceased died of multiple gunshot wounds; that he called for help; that he used a cricket bat to bash down the door; that he was very emotional sooner after the incident; and that he was seen trying to resuscitate the deceased.

The issue is, the judge says, was there any pre-meditation or intention.

She says it would serve any purpose to rehash all the evidence in detail or so through every submission.

8:55 am
The accused denied that he killed Reeva intentionally, and denied premeditation, says the judge.

She says Oscar claims he was unaware Reeva had left the bedroom to go to the toilet.

8:53 am
Judge Masipa is now recapping the state's case that the accused and deceased had an argument and Pistorius shot Reeva after she locked herself in the bathroom.

She begins to go through witness evidence, saying neighbour Estelle Van Der Merwe told the court she heard a row at around 2am that morning.

Fellow neighbours the Stipps said they heard gunshots and shouts for help.

Witnesses Michelle Burger and Charl Johnson heard a woman in distress.

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9:06 am
Judge Masipa says the evidence of Michelle Burger and her husband was "unreliable", but that they were not dishonest, and were unfairly criticised for having almost identical statements.

But they were "genuinely mistaken" in what they heard.

9:04 am
Lucy Thornton

Judge Masipa says she will now talk about the gunshots, the cricket bat hitting the door and the screams.

It became clear that some of the sounds witnesses thought were gunshots were actually the cricket bat striking the door, she says.

She says some of the witnesses could have missed sounds either because they were asleep, or their focus was elsewhere.

_________________
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9:15 am

The judge is now talking about Reeva's injuries.

The wound to the hip would have caused immediate instability, and the head wound would have been immediately incapacitating.

The deceased probably did not breathe for more than a few seconds after being shot in the head.

The shots were fired in quick succession, which suggests Reeva would not have had time to scream or shout, says the judge.

The only other person who could have screamed was the accused.

Pistorius has been in tears in the dock during this first hour.


Oscar Pistorius appears to be crying as he sits in the dock during the verdict in his murder trial

9:10 am
Judge Masipa addresses the issue of whether Pistorius sounds like a woman when he screams.

She says none of the witnesses had heard the accused cry or scream before, let alone when he was anxious, which makes it difficult.

Even his ex Samantha Taylor, who said he sounded like a man and not like a woman, had to concede she had never heard him scream when facing a life threatening situation.

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9:18 am
She says the witnesses may have got their version of events wrong after listening to the media coverage of the shooting.

Some witnesses failed to separate from what they knew personally, and what they had heard from other people or from the media, adds Judge Masipa.

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9:22 am
It would be unwise to rely on any evidence by the witnesses, and this includes those called by the defence about what was heard that morning, without testing them against objective facts.

This objective evidence includes phone records, which can be used to work out the timeline of events.

9:29 am
The judge sets out the chronology of events:

First shots were heard between 3.12am and 3.13am.

At around 3.15am the accused was heard shouting for help.

Between 3.12am and 3.17am, screaming was heard.

At 3.15am the accused was seen walking in the bathroom.

Also at 3.15am, Dr Stipp telephone security.

At 3.16am, Mr Johnson also spoke to security.

At 3.17am, Dr Stipp tried to call 10111.

Also at 3.17am, the second set of sounds were heard, which were the cricket bat striking against the door.

At 3.19am, the accused called Johann Stander - the estate manager.

At 3.20am, the accused called 911.

At 3.21am, the accused called security.

At 3.22am, Peter Baba from security called Pistorius.

At 3.22am Mr Stander arrived at the house of the accused.

At 3.23am/3.24am, Dr Stipp also arrived.

At 3.27am, Mr Stander called 911, and Dr Stipp tried to call security again but did not get through.

At 3.50am, paramedics declared Reeva dead. At 3.55, police arrived at the accused's house.

_________________
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___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Tea Break

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9:37 am
The first sounds between 3.13am and 3.14am, were shots.

The screams heard between these and the second shots could not have been those of the deceased as she had then suffered "devastating injuries", says the judge.

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

9:52 am
Judge Masipa is now going through Pistorius' version of events.

He said he thought a sound from inside the toilet was an intruder, armed himself, told the deceased to call the police and went to the bathroom.

He shouted to the 'intruders' to get out, and heard a door slam.

He heard a movement inside the toilet and thought whoever was in there was coming out to attack him.

He told the court: "Before I knew it I had fired four shots at the door."

9:49 am
Next, she talks about Reeva's stomach contents.

The state said Reeva had food much later than the defence claimed, but accepted it was not an exact science.

The judge says this was inconclusive, and Reeva may have left the room to eat while the accused was asleep.

9:46 am
She moves on to address the issue of the WhatsApp messages between Reeva and Oscar, but says they do not prove anything for the state or the defence.

Normal relationships are dynamic and unpredictable, the judge adds, and human beings are fickle.

The messages cannot help the court decide whether the accused had intent to kill Reeva, so no inference will be taken from them one way or the other.

9:44 am
Judge Masipa asks if the version of the accused, that he was the one that was screaming, reasonably be true?

The state said the accused and deceased had had an argument, and in the "heat of further argument" Pistorius shot and killed Reeva.

In support of this theory, the state said the deceased had her cell phone with her and locked herself inside the toilet.

But the judge says there could have been a number of reasons why the deceased had her phone with her - she may have needed to light her way, as the light in the bathroom was not working.

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

10:01 am
The judge says the low shots were inconsistent with someone who shot without thinking.

Court adjourns for half an hour.

9:59 am
So was the discharge not accidental, or was it accidental?

He said it was accidental, he thought the noise in the toilet was someone coming out of the toilet to attack him or take his life.

Judge points out Pistorius had released a safety mechanism on the firearm. He says this was in case he needed to protect himself.

9:57 am
Pistorius said the shooting was an accident, and he did not have time to think. He said he pulled the trigger when he heard a noise, he did not purposefully fire into the door and never aimed at the door, and that his firearm was pointed at the door when he got a fright.

He fired "before I could think, before I even had a moment to comprehend what was happening".

9:55 am
Judge Masipa says it is not quite clear whether Pistorius intended to shoot or not.

This was exacerbated by the fact doubt was placed on the accused's culpability at the time of the incident, with a doctor saying he suffered a general anxiety disorder.

9:53 am
Pistorius said he went back to the bedroom and found it empty, and it occurred to him the person in the toilet might be Reeva.

He put on his artificial legs and tried to kick open the door but it would not budge.

He grabbed a cricket bat from the bedroom, and hit the door three times, breaking it down to find Reeva in side.

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

Tea Break

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___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

10:43 am
The judge resumes delivering her verdict.

She says she has had to deal with a plethora of defences.

The first question she has to ask is did Pistorius lack criminal capacity at the time of the offence. The accused repeatedly told the court he had "no time to think" before he fired the shots. This raised a doubt as to whether he could be held criminally accountable.

Could the accused distinguish between right and wrong? she asks.

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