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PRETORIA — The defence in the Oscar Pistorius murder case rested yesterday, bringing to an end the latest phase of a trial which has lasted longer than the athlete’s relationship with Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend he killed.
Closing arguments will begin August 7, the judge ordered.
The long delay may be because of the length of time it will take the legal teams on both sides to review the transcript of the case, CNN legal analyst Kelly Phelps said.
It’s thought to be as much as 4,000 pages long, covering a case that ran for 39 days between March 3 and July 8.
Pistorius, 27, admits firing the bullets that killed Steenkamp, but he says he mistakenly thought he was defending himself from an intruder. Prosecutors say the two had an argument and he deliberately murdered the model and law school graduate, who was 29.
Following closing arguments, the judge will have to decide whether Pistorius genuinely made a mistake or deliberately murdered his girlfriend.
If Judge Thokozile Masipa does not believe the athlete thought there was an intruder, she will find him guilty of murder and sentence him to a prison term ranging from 15 years to life.
South Africa does not have the death penalty.
If Masipa accepts that Pistorius did not know that Steenkamp was the person he was shooting at, she could find him guilty of culpable homicide, a lesser charge than murder, or acquit him, according to Phelps, the CNN legal analyst.
A verdict of culpable homicide would leave the sentence at Masipa’s discretion.
Meanwhile, most witnesses refused to testify for the defence in the Paralympian’s trial, his lawyer Barry Roux told the North Gauteng High Court yesterday.
“We were unable to call a number of witnesses because they refused, and didn’t want their voices heard all over the world,” Roux said.
There was nothing the defence could do to change their minds, he said.
Roux did not tell the court who those witnesses were.
The defence closed its case.
The state would file its heads of argument on July 30, and the defence on August 4. Argument would then be heard in court on August 7 and 8.
Judge Masipa ordered that the contents of the heads of argument not be published by print or broadcast media until they were heard in court.
Pistorius is charged with murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year. He claims he shot her by accident through the locked door of the toilet in his Pretoria home, thinking she was an intruder about to emerge and attack him.
The state contends he killed her during an argument. — Sapa
derick.khumalo