Originally published on March 14, 2014
Defence advocate Barry Roux's cross-examination of former police colonel Schoombie van Rensburg continued today on the tenth day of Oscar Pistorius' murder trial, as Roux grilled Van Rensburg on inconsistencies between his statement, his testimony and the statements of other investigators.
The prosecution says Pistorius, now 27, deliberately shot his girlfriend, model and reality TV star Steenkamp, then 29, after the pair had an argument and she locked herself in the toilet early on Valentine's Day last year. Pistorius said he fired in self-defence after he mistook Steenkamp for a home intruder who had entered through the bathroom window.
When he began his testimony yesterday on the ninth day of the trial, Van Rensburg, then commander of the nearby Boschkop police station, said he arrived at Pistorius' house at 3:55 a.m. on the day of the alleged murder, February 14, 2013, to find Steenkamp's body on the floor in a pool of blood, with towels and black bags around the head.
Van Rensburg said he saw Steenkamp's covered body on the floor to the left of the stairs as he arrived at the crime scene at around 3:55 a.m. He and a paramedic put Steenkamp's bloodstained clothes in an evidence bag.
Van Rensburg said he went into the kitchen and saw that Pistorius was in extreme distress. He asked Pistorius what had happened, but the athlete did not answer. Clarice Stander, the daughter of estate manager Johan Stander, was comforting Pistorius. She approached the colonel and told him she and her father saw Pistorius carrying Steenkamp downstairs. Van Rensburg told the distraught sprinter to stand on the far side of the centre island in the kitchen.
An investigating officer, Warrant Officer Hilton Botha, arrived on the scene later. Van Rensburg testified that he showed Botha the body, and together they followed a trail of blood up the stairs.
At this point Van Rensburg, who said he had been called to Pistorius' Silver Woods Estate while handling an armed robbery case, had been working for 24 hours. Van Rensburg said Botha was more experienced and had not been involved in the armed robbery case.
In his cross-examination of Van Rensburg today, defence lawyer Roux appeared to be trying to cast doubt on the accuracy of the investigating officers' statements and their memory of events.
Roux argued today that in his statement Van Rensburg said he had followed a trail of blood up to the bathroom and then went downstairs alone. However, during his testimony, Van Rensburg said he had done so with investigating officer Hilton Botha.
In his testimony, Van Rensburg said he and Botha had left Pistorius in the kitchen before heading upstairs. Botha's statement, however, said that Pistorius was in the garage when Botha arrived.
Another constable said in his statement that he also went upstairs, which contradicts Van Rensburg's testimony that only he and Botha had gone upstairs. The other officer said he only saw Van Rensburg when he went upstairs.
Hilton Botha was initially the lead detective in the Pistorius investigation. Botha was criticized for bungling the investigation and was dropped from the case after it emerged that he was facing attempted murder charges. He resigned in March 2013.
Van Rensburg retired last year amid claims that he had also mishandled the case.
