Self-Defense Claim: Oscar Pistorius Maintains Killing Reeva Steenkamp Was A Mistake

Oscar Pistorius broke down in the witness box twice today during a fierce a line of questioning from the state prosecutor who accused him of doctoring his evidence.

Gerrie Nel began the sixth day of cross-examination in the same vein he ended last week's gruelling interrogation by claiming the runner was changing his account of the night he killed his girlfriend.

Mr Nel told the court: 'Today, I'm going to prove your version of events is untrue. That you tailored your version, concocted your story.

'Your version is so improbable that it cannot reasonably possibly be true.'

The court was forced to dramatically adjourn when the athlete broke down sobbing after being asked to repeat what he said as he moved toward the bathroom where he shot Reeva Steenkamp.

'I screamed "get the f*** out of my house",' he wailed, prompting the judge to end the session temporarily.

He later wept once again while denying he intentionally shot his girlfriend, crying out: 'I did not fire at Reeva!'

Jumping from one event or piece of evidence to another, Mr Nel sought to keep Pistorius off balance, alleging that he had argued with his Miss Steenkamp shortly before shooting her dead.

'It's the state's case, Mr Pistorius, that she wanted to leave and that you weren't sleeping, you were both awake,' said Mr Nel.

'That's not correct my lady, that's untrue,' Pistorius replied softly.

'There was an argument,' Nel said, drawing another denial.

The prosecutor's relentless questioning has elicited tears and taut replies from the world-famous double amputee, who insists he and the 29-year-old model were in a loving relationship.

Mr Nel also complained that Pistorius was being evasive and challenged him: 'Today I pick up you're not sure about things, is anything wrong?' Nel asked. 'You're fine?'

Pistorius grew increasingly restless during the morning, wiping his face, pinching the bridge of his nose and clenching his jaw.

Earlier, fans of Oscar Pistorius greeted the athlete with hugs and white balloons outside court today as he arrived for a second week on the witness stand.

The Paralympian was met with messages of support saying 'Ozzy, we love you' and 'hero' while others played music in a festival atmosphere outside the high court in Pretoria.

He has returned to the stand after a gruelling week in which he was accused of deliberately shooting his girlfriend through a toilet door as the couple talked and argued in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year.

Over the weekend, Reeva Steenkamp's older sister branded the runner a 'disgusting liar' after attending some of his testimony in court with her mother.

Simone Steenkamp, 48, said: 'He is trying to convince the court that they were really close and that he cared for her. It's not true.'

She told the Mail on Sunday that the trial 'almost destroyed me'.

She said: 'He knew we were there but he almost lost his balance and fell over when he saw us.

'Then he sat in the dock, smirking. He killed my sister and yet he still seems to be enjoying his celebrity status.

'During the adjournments he marched around as if he was still a star while my mother and I just wanted to hide away,' she added.

'I don't understand how anyone could commit that act - kill someone - and behave like that.'

On Friday, prosecutor Gerrie Nel pushed the Paralympic champion on his version of the exact events in the seconds before he killed Reeva Steenkamp by firing four times through the stall door in his bathroom with his 9mm pistol on February 14, 2013. 

Mr Nel challenged the double-amputee sprinter repeatedly as to why Miss Steenkamp failed to scream when she was shot four times.

Mr Nel, one of South Africa's top attorneys, said it was beyond belief that 29-year-old law graduate and model Miss Steenkamp would have remained silent in the tiny cubicle with an armed Pistorius shouting and screaming in the adjoining bathroom.

Mr Nel later followed up with his central accusation - that the couple had an argument and Steenkamp fled to the toilet pursued by Pistorius, who then shot her through the closed wooden door.

'You knew that Reeva went behind the door and you shot at her,' Mr Nel said. 'You shot at her knowing she was behind the door.'

Pistorius, who claims he shot Miss Steenkamp by mistake thinking she was a nighttime intruder behind a toilet door in his bathroom, faces life in prison if convicted of murder.

Pistorius says he shouted at what he thought was an intruder in his house and also at Miss Steenkamp to call the police.

Mr Nel said that if that were the case, she would not have stood up against the door. She would have retreated away from it. And she would have responded to Pistorius, the chief prosecutor said. 

'I don't think anybody could say where she would have stood,' Pistorius replied.

Mr Nel led the double-amputee runner through his own account of what happened in the moments before he shot Miss Steenkamp.

Pistorius said he heard a noise in the bathroom and moved down a hallway on his stumps towards the bathroom while screaming to his girlfriend - who he claims he had believed was in the bedroom - to get down and call the police.

He said he then heard what sounded like the toilet door slamming, then kept quiet as he reached the bathroom entrance, then heard a noise in the toilet that he perceived to be the sound of wood on wood, which he said made him think someone was opening the toilet door - which he said fit badly in the frame - to attack him. 

And then, Pistorius said, he opened fire.

At each stage, Mr Nel argued that the account was improbable, questioning why Pistorius did not establish where Miss Steenkamp was and make sure she was okay, and why he would approach the alleged danger zone if he felt vulnerable on his stumps.

Mr Nel said: 'If you spoke to Reeva, the two of you could have taken lots of other steps.'

Pistorius said he thought the perceived threat could strike at any moment: 'There was no time.'

During the cross-examination, Pistorius said Steenkamp did not scream at any point during the incident.

However, the 27-year-old track star said that he may not have heard her cries because of his ears ringing from the first shot.

Several people living nearby have testified to hearing a woman's terrified screams before and during a volley of shots.

'She's awake. She's in the toilet. You're shouting. You're screaming. You're three metres from her. She would have responded. She would not have been quiet, Mr Pistorius,' Mr Nel said.

'She didn't respond, my Lady,' Pistorius replied, addressing judge Thokozile Masipa.

'Did she scream at all whilst you shot her four times?' Mr Nel continued.

'No, my Lady.'

'Are you sure? Are you sure, Mr Pistorius, that Reeva did not scream after the first shot?' Mr Nel continued. 'Are you, Mr Pistorius?'

After a brief silence, Pistorius said: 'My Lady, I wish she had let me know she was there.'

'After you fired the first shot, did she scream?' Mr Nel asked.

'No, my Lady.'

'Are you sure? Would you have heard her?' Mr Nel asked.

'I don't think I would have heard her.'

'Exactly.'

'A gunshot went off, my ears were ringing,' Pistorius said.

'How can you exclude the fact she was screaming if you couldn't hear?' Mr Nel asked.

'If I couldn't hear it then I couldn't hear,' Pistorius retorted.

'No, you said, Mr Pistorius, she never screamed. You couldn't hear. You're just saying that,' Mr Nel said.

'That is what I'm saying,' Pistorius replied.

'No, that's not what you're saying. You're saying she didn't scream,' Mr Nel followed up.

'My Lady, the sound of that gunshot in the bathroom, you wouldn't have heard anyone scream. The decibels of the gunshot, I don't believe you would have heard anyone scream. 

'When I had finished firing the gunshots, I was screaming and I couldn't hear my own voice.'

Pistorius, 27, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder. He denies all the charges against him.

The trial continues.

More Photos...

Scene of horror: This newly released photograph shows the blood-soaked bathroom where Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the toilet cubicle (top) with his 9mm pistol (seen lying on a bathmat, right) and the blood-splattered cricket bat (bottom right) he used to break down the toilet door after killing her