PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Final arguments have begun in the South African murder trial of Oscar Pistorius, the once-celebrated athlete who fatally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, through a toilet cubicle door in his home.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said Thursday that a criminal trial was a “blunt instrument for digging up the truth” but that he was confident of his case.
The fathers of the double-amputee Olympic runner and Steenkamp were in court for the first time in the trial, sitting at opposite ends of a long bench in the gallery.
The prosecution says Pistorius intentionally shot Steenkamp before dawn on Feb. 14, 2013 in anger after a quarrel. The defense contends that he fired by mistake, thinking an intruder was in the toilet cubicle and that Steenkamp was in the bedroom.
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