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Pistorius told the court he shot at Steenkamp through a

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Press Trust of India
locked bathroom door, mistakenly believing she was a burglar. "I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he said. With only the suspect and the victim in the house at the time of the killing, the state's case is expected to focus heavily on forensic evidence and witnesses who are alleged to have heard the couple argue. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had argued on Tuesday that Pistorius deliberately fired four shots into the bathroom door after putting on his prosthetic legs, hitting a terrified Steenkamp three times and fatally wounding her. "She could go nowhere," Nel said. "She locked the door for a purpose." On Tuesday the double amputee track star broke down in tears repeatedly as his own words from his own affidavit filled the court: "We were deeply in love and couldn't be more happy. "I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva," he said in his first public comments on the killing. As the court hearing proceeded Tuesday, Steenkamp was laid to rest at an emotional private ceremony at a crematorium in her hometown of Port Elizabeth. Pistorius was an inspiration to millions when he became the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics in London last year. Pistorius said he had awoken in the dead of night when he heard a noise at his upscale home in a gated Pretoria estate "Filled with horror and fear" that someone was in the bathroom, he said he felt "very vulnerable" because he did not have his prosthetic legs on. He said he fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to his girlfriend to phone the police, but then realised it could have been Steenkamp in the bathroom. (AFP) PDS AH 02201655 NNNN

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First Published: Feb 20 2013 | 5:20 PM IST

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