Pistorius prosecutors rest their case

The prosecution in Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial has closed its case and the defence has asked for time to approach some of the 107 state witnesses who did not give evidence.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said “this is the state’s case”, setting the stage for the defence to start its arguments when court resumes on Friday.

Defence lawyer Brian Webber said it is likely Pistorius will give evidence, but did not say when.

Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year. Pistorius says he mistook her for an intruder.

Earlier, Pistorius’s chief lawyer sought to show that the athlete had a loving relationship with Steenkamp, referring to telephone messages in which they exchanged warm compliments and said they missed each other.

The testimony contrasted with several messages read out in court at the request of the prosecution yesterday in which Pistorius and Steenkamp argued in the weeks before he shot her. In those messages, Steenkamp told the double-amputee runner that she was sometimes scared by his behaviour, which included jealous outbursts in front of other people.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux noted that the tense messages were a tiny fraction of roughly 1,700 that police Captain Francois Moller, a mobile phone expert, extracted from the mobile devices of the couple.

Mr Roux noted an exchange from January 19 last year in which Steenkamp sent Pistorius a photo of herself in a hoodie and making a kissing face, followed by the message: “You like it?”

“I love it,” Pistorius said, according to the message.

“So warm,” Steenkamp responded.

Mr Roux was also granted permission to show CCTV video that showed Pistorius and Steenkamp kissing in a convenience store. And he asked Mr Moller to read out a January 9 message from the model to her athlete boyfriend. It read: “You are a very special person. You deserve to be looked after.”

Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned the relevance of showing the convenience store video, saying he could ask for a courtroom viewing of another video that shows Pistorius at a gun range, firing a shotgun and using a pistol to shoot a watermelon, which bursts on impact.

Mr Nel also said that many messages of affection between the couple were brief, in contrast to the texted arguments, which were far longer and dwelled on their relationship in greater depth.

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