'Angel, please don't say a thing'
Murder accused paralympian Oscar Pistorius sent a message to his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp asking her "not to say a thing", the High Court in Pretoria heard on Monday.
"Angel, please don't say a thing to anyone, Darren told everyone it was his fault. The guys promised they wouldn't say anything," Captain Francois Moller read from a WhatsApp message Pistorius sent to Steenkamp on January 11, 2013 at 3.03pm South African time.
Moller extracted data from both Steenkamp's and Pistorius's iPhones found in the athlete's home on February 14 that year. Pistorius is on trial for the premeditated murder of Steenkamp that day.
Pistorius is also charged with firing a gun in a public place, at Tasha's restaurant in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, in January 2013.
He allegedly asked his friend Darren Fresco to take the blame for the shot that went off.
Pistorius and Steenkamp exchanged a few messages, before she replied: "I won't always think before I say something, just appreciate that I'm not a liar."
As Moller read other, longer messages between the couple that revealed conflict between the couple, Pistorius bowed his head and cried quietly.
Pistorius has been charged with murder and contraventions of the Firearms Control Act. He allegedly fired the shot at Tashas, and on September 30, 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.
- Sapa