PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — A neighbor and friend of Oscar Pistorius testified Monday at his murder trial that the athlete was "torn apart" and desperately trying to save girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp minutes after fatally shooting her at his home last year.
Neighbor Johan Stander said he received a panicked phone call from Pistorius at around 3:19 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2013 — about two minutes after the shooting. Pistorius told him he had thought Steenkamp was an intruder and shot her, Stander testified, and Stander and his daughter Carice Viljoen went to Pistorius' house after the double-amputee runner pleaded with him to come and help.
"I saw the truth there that morning. I saw it and I feel it," Stander testified, saying he believed that the shooting was accidental because of Pistorius' emotional state when they found him carrying a bloodied Steenkamp down the stairs at his villa. Pistorius was "really crying. He was in pain," Stander said.
"He was asking God to help him. He was torn apart, broken, desperate, pleading," Stander said. His own voice shook at one point and he became emotional on the witness stand. "It's difficult really to describe."
Stander and his daughter were the fourth and fifth witnesses called by the defense as it attempted to recover from a shaky start and Pistorius' own testimony, which was unconvincing in places under a fierce cross-examination by chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel. The pair testified as the trial moved into its seventh week after a two-week recess.
The defense was trying to reinforce its assertion that Pistorius killed Steenkamp in a tragic error of judgment. Pistorius, 27, says he mistook his 29-year-old girlfriend for an intruder and shot her through a closed toilet door, and then tried to save her life.
Prosecutors maintain Pistorius is lying about the perceived intruder and his story is designed to cover up that he killed the model intentionally in the midst of a heated nighttime argument. A multiple Paralympic champion and the first amputee to run at the Olympics, Pistorius faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted on a premeditated murder charge. He slumped forward at one point Monday with his head in his hands as details of what may have been Steenkamp's last moments alive were discussed.
