The chief prosecutor in Oscar Pistorius' murder trial demanded today that he openly say he killed his girlfriend, sharply challenging the double-amputee runner when he said he made a "mistake" and setting the stage for a rigorous cross-examination.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked the court for permission to show a video of the celebrated Olympic athlete allegedly firing a gun at a range and referring to its deadly power as a "zombie stopper."
Defence lawyer Barry Roux objected to the gun video being shown, saying it was inadmissible character evidence and amounted to a legal "ambush" of the defense. Judge Thokozile Masipa allowed the video to be shown.
Pistorius, 27, has said he shot model Reeva Steenkamp by accident on February 14, 2013, mistaking her for an intruder. The prosecution alleges he killed her by firing through a closed toilet stall door after an argument.
The runner faces a possible prison term of 25 years to life if convicted of premeditated murder.
Nel tried to dismantle the sympathetic image of Pistorius that the defense had sought to build up in three days of testimony. He opened by asking the athlete to explicitly acknowledge that he had killed Steenkamp.
"I made a mistake," Pistorius said. "What was your mistake?" Nel shot back. Pistorius then said he "took Reeva's life." "You killed her," Nel said. "You shot and killed her," and he asked Pistorius to say it. Pistorius would not, saying merely: "I did."
Nel then tried to drive a wedge between the rosy former image of Pistorius and the ideals the runner has said he aspires to, and the prosecution depiction of the runner as a hothead with a gun obsession.
The prosecutor asked Pistorius if people looked up to him as a sporting "hero," if he wouldn't hide anything and if he lived by Christian principles.
"I'm here to tell the truth, I'm here to tell the truth as much as I can remember," Pistorius said. He also said: "I'm human. I have sins.
