Pistorius trial – key points from day eight

Dramatic re-enactments of Oscar Pistorius breaking down his bathroom door with a cricket bat, debate over whether he was on his stumps at the time and a defence lawyer’s relentless attack on police competence dominated the eighth day of the Paralympian’s murder trial.

Here are the highlights of Wednesday’s proceedings:

– Defence lawyer Barry Roux’s questioning revealed that police missed crucial evidence and stepped on the bathroom door through which Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Under cross-examination, police forensic expert Colonel Gerhard Vermeulen conceded the door may have been mishandled and that his investigation missed fragments of the door on the ground which could have provided further evidence.

– Also supporting the defence’s case, Vermeulen testified the athlete broke down the bathroom door only after he fired the shots that killed the 29-year-old model in the early morning hours of February 14 last year, Vermeulen testified.

“I would say the door was hit after the shots,” he told the court.

– The height of two strike marks from a cricket bat above the handle of the toilet door suggest Pistorius was not wearing prostheses when he broke it open, Vermeulen demonstrated by kneeling and re-enacting the scene in the courtroom.

“The marks on the door are actually consistent with him not having his legs on,” Vermeulen testified. This appears to contradict the athlete’s version that he put on his prostheses before breaking down the door.

– Roux accused Pistorius’s friend Darren Fresco of falsifying evidence after he portrayed Pistorius as gun-crazed, reckless and disrespectful of authority.