Oscar Pistorius: ‘Reeva died while I was holding her…there was nothing they could do’ as court shown shocking pictures of her head injuries

Oscar Pistorius has told the court this morning that his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp died in his arms after he shot her through a closed bathroom door.

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by Ellie Hooper |
Published on

Appearing on the stand for day 3 of his testimony in the murder trial, Pistorius's voice wavered as he described the moments after he found fatally wounded Reeva in the bathroom.

'I knelt down over Reeva. She was sitting up.'

'I could see she was still breathing. She was struggling to breathe.'

Between sobs, Pistorius said he struggled to pick her up, but held her in his arms whilst trying not to hurt her more.

Reeva pictured a few months before her death

'I had my fingers in her mouth to help to breathe. I had my hand on her hip to try and stop the bleeding.'

A short time later, the athlete described how paramedics arrived and he was informed that Reeva had died whilst the athlete had been holding her.

Reeva had only been dating Oscar for a few months

The prosecution launched a fierce cross-examination of Pistorius after his evidence, with lawyer Geriie Nel shouting: 'You killed a person, that's what you did! You shot and killed her, won't you take responsibility for that?'

Another key piece of evidence in this morning's proceedings is that several neighbours claim they heard a woman crying rather than screaming in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013.

Yesterday the trial had to be adjourned early because Pistorius cried uncontrollably as he described finding Reeva as he opened the bathroom door.

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