Pistorius trial: Athlete says it’s a ‘tough time’

Oscar Pistorius, expected to testify in his murder trial at the end of the week, said yesterday he’s going through ‘a tough time’ in a rare comment after the prosecution closed its case against the double-amputee runner.

It is ‘likely’ Pistorius will take the stand to open the defence’s case, said defence lawyer Brian Webber, adding there’s no specific requirement for him to testify first but it is normal practice.

“I don’t think we have a choice, it’s a question of when,” Webber said of Pistorius’s testimony, which legal experts describe as critical because the judge will have a chance to assess firsthand whether he is a credible witness. Judge Thokozile Masipa will deliver a ruling in the case, with the help of two assessors.

After the prosecution closed its case, defence lawyer Barry Roux asked for time to consult some of the 107 state witnesses who had not testified in the case against Pistorius, who is accused of premeditated murder for the death of Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend he shot through the closed door of a toilet cubicle last year. Masipa adjourned the trial until Friday so that Roux could prepare his arguments that Pistorius, 27, killed the 29-year-old model by accident, thinking she was an intruder in his home.

The Olympian became an almost silent, somewhat cryptic figure after he killed Steenkamp, his account only outlined in legal statements that were carefully tailored by his high-powered legal team. Yesterday, he made rare, brief comments to reporters after the court adjourned.

“It’s a tough time,” Pistorius said. “We’ve got a lot ahead of us.”

Earlier yesterday, defence lawyer Roux sought to show that Pistorius had a loving relationship with the girlfriend he killed, referring to telephone messages in which they exchanged warm compliments and said they missed each other.

The testimony contrasted with several messages read in court a day earlier in which Pistorius and Steenkamp argued in the weeks before he shot her, part of the prosecution’s effort to bolster its case that the athlete killed his girlfriend after an argument. In those messages, Steenkamp told the runner she was sometimes scared by his behaviour, which included jealous outbursts in front of other people.