After five days of cross-examination by Gerrie Nel, Oscar Pistorius's ordeal is far from over. In his closing statement, Nel again maintains that Pistorious and Reeva were arguing, she managed to escape from him, whereupon she locked herself in the bathroom, screaming for help, before the Olympian deployed four shots through the door. Pistorious, meanwhile, insists he was trying to protect both him and Reeva from an "intruder." I know whose version of events seem more plausible.
To see Nel's closing statement, make you way to Sky News.
Yesterday, the prosecutor - who's nicknamed The Pitbull for obvious reasons - posed the following scenario thanks to the positioning of a pair of jeans; Reeva Steenkamp "wanted to leave" Oscar Pistorius' home at the time of her death.
Attempting to pick holes in Oscar's argument that he mistook his then-girlfriend for an intruder, the prosecutor said: "Why would she leave her jeans on the floor if everything else is in her overnight bag? She wanted to leave, and you weren't sleeping, you were both awake and there was an argument."
He also refuted the double-amputee's version of events that she hadn't eaten for hours before she was shot dead in the early hours of 14 February last year.
Gerrie added: "That is, as far as your case is concerned, devastating for your version that eight hours after she was killed, there was still that amount of food in her stomach. I put it to you that she must have eaten within two hours of her death."
Oscar broke down in tears several times, forcing the court to adjourn, as he was asked to clarify supposed inconsistencies in his story and was accused of using his emotional behaviour as an "escape".
The prosecutor said yesterday: "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."
He also ferociously quizzed the Paralympian over his account that he had heard a door closing in the toilet, making him believe intruders might be there.
He said: "There's not a single word of the door shutting in your bail statement, why not?"
Oscar replied, "I'm not sure - I don't know why" (something Oscar has said a lot during his cross-examination, as it happens. He also ended each statement with the phrase "my lady" - in reference to the judge, not Nel, although you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise). Gerrie continued, "It's even more devastating that it's not in your plea statement', adding, 'It's because you invented it."
Nel's cross-examination kicked off last week with him querying various WhatsApp messages Reeva had sent to Oscar in the lead up to her death. Those messages claim he had had a "tantrum" at her friend's engagement party. She also claimed she felt "picked on" and was "sometimes scared" of him. When questioned over that Oscar said Reeva was "scared" for her "feelings" for him, while Nel said she was "scared" of what he would do to her.
After Nel ended his closing argument, Pistorius read out the following from a Valentines Card he was apparently due to give Reeva: "He sobbed: "Roses are red, violets are blue. I think today is a good day to tell you that... I love you."
