A ballistic expert called by the defense team of Oscar Pistorius has testified during his murder trial that his analysis of the scene where the Paralympian shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp differs from the reconstruction of the shooting by police investigators.
The debate over detail reflects the defense's efforts to show that Steenkamp was not arguing with Pistorius after fleeing from him when she was shot in the pre-dawn hours of February 14, 2013 - as the prosecution contends.
According to Sport24, the study of the sequence and trajectory of bullets that struck Steenkamp through a closed toilet door is at the center of testimony over her body position at the time of the shooting and how rapidly Pistorius fired the fatal shots with his 9 mm pistol.
Although police said that the law student-cum-model was cowering with her hands over her head when she was hit in the head by one of several bullets that struck her, however, former police officer-turned- private ballistics expert Wollie Wolmarans testified that he did not believe Steenkamp's left hand was over her head
Wolmarans also said it was his opinion that the four shots were fired in 'fast succession', apparently supporting Pistorius' contention that he shot rapidly and in panic after thinking there was an intruder in the cubicle.
However, the prosecution believes there could have been a gap between the first and the following three shots, arguing Pistorius fired with deliberate intent to kill, the report added.