Oscar: Discrepancy in statements queried
A difference in statements by two witnesses present when murder-accused Oscar Pistorius fired through a car's open sunroof was queried in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Pistorius's friend Darren Fresco said the paralympian fired the shot "out of the blue".
He, Pistorius, and the athlete's then girlfriend Samantha Taylor were in the car at the time, on September 30, 2012.
Fresco was being questioned by Barry Roux, SC, for Pistorius, Roux read a statement from Taylor which differed from Fresco's version.
"The shot was fired because they (Fresco and Pistorius) were angry at the police and they found it funny to irritate the police," Roux read from Taylor's statement.
According to Taylor they had, shortly before, been pulled over for speeding. Fresco said Pistorius fired the shot a long time after metro police stopped them.
Asked to explain the discrepancy, Fresco stuck to his version.
"My testimony is the truth, My Lady, that's what I remember," Fresco said.
Fresco risks prosecution on ammunition and firearms-related charged.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, however, told him if he answered questions put to him by the defence or prosecution frankly and honestly, he would be discharged from prosecution.
Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Steenkamp on February 14 last year.
He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.
- Sapa