Pistorius evidence: Live Report

13:29 GMT - AFP IS CLOSING THIS LIVE REPORT AFTER Oscar Pistorius faced a day of fierce cross-examination at his murder trial in Pretoria as the prosecution tore into his claim that he never intended to kill his girlfriend. "You made a mistake?" state prosecutor Gerrie Nel thundered as he questioned the South African Paralympian's account of Reeva Steenkamp's death on Valentine's Day last year. "You killed a person, that's what you did! You shot and killed her, won't you take responsibility for that?" he said just moments into the cross-examination of Pistorius who claimed he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. Pistorius broke down, as he has done frequently during the five weeks of his high-profile murder trial. His emotional state and arguments between prosecution and defence lawyers forced a series of adjournments before Nel returned to the court to show footage of the Olympian firing a bullet into a watermelon. After seeing images of the fruit exploding through the air and hearing Pistorius remark it was "softer than brains" Nel turned to the witness box. "You know that's the same that happened to Reeva's head," he said, causing a shocked Pistorius to grow more distraught. Unrelenting, Nel then quickly showed the court a graphic photo of the 29-year-old model's bloodied head, her blonde hair drenched with dark congealed blood. "That's it," Nel said, turning to Pistorius. "Have a look there, I know you don't want to because you don't want to take responsibility." Growing ever more emotional and affronted, Pistorius said: "Milady I've taken responsibility. "I don't have to look at a picture, I was there," said Pistorius, burying his head into his hands." Read on to see how the day's evidence unfolded at North Gauteng High Court. 13:19 GMT - Tangible relief - There is tangible relief when the court breaks after Wednesday's marathon session, says AFP's Johannes Myburgh. "This was the first full day of Pistorius testimony, without early adjournment. Cross-examination finally started, a crucial point in testing the Paralympian's version of events that fateful night Steenkamp died. "Pistorius slumped in a chair against a wall after the proceedings, his hands covering his eyes, flanked by his brother Carl and sister Aimee. "Towards the end of the day the court also saw a frustrated side to Pistorius, his visible irritation at being contradicted that harks back to his days as global sports star. "Prosecutor Gerrie Nel is very meticulous. Expect him to carry on henpecking on Thursday, tearing at the accused's story and egging him on in the hope of a breakdown and confession." 13:08 GMT - Accident - Before the adjournment, Pistorius told the court he "didn't intend to shoot anyone" when he entered the bathroom. "Did your gun accidentally go off, or did you fire at intruders?" Nel asks. "My firearm was in my possession, I had my finger on the trigger, it was an accident what happened, I agree with that - I didn't intend to shoot anyone," says Pistorius. "I shot my firearm before I had a moment to comprehend what was happening." Nel: "Was the only way out for you to shoot this intruder?" Pistorius: "I didn't have time to think about it." Nel: "Did your gun go off accidentally, yes or no?" Pistorius: "I pulled the trigger, at that moment when I heard the noise I didn't have time to think about it, I thought that someone was coming out. "I fired four shots, when I realized the scale of what was happening, I stood there, I was in shock. "My lady, I understand by what I'm saying, it's not just a physical movement. "What I'm saying is that at that time, I didn't know what to think, I fired into the toilet door, I believed someone coming out to attack me. "I said I didn't deliberately do it, I never said I didn't do it." 13:04 GMT - COURT ADJOURNED - Court is adjourned for the day, Johannes Myburgh tells us. 13:03 GMT - Accidental? - "Nel is trying to find out if Pistorius deliberately fired on the door, or whether he pulled the trigger by accident," AFP's Johannes Myburgh tells us from the courtroom. "It seems Pistorius now says he fired by accident, as opposed to Steenkamp's death being accidental because she was not the intruder behind the door." 13:00 GMT - 'It was an accident' - Pistorius insists the shooting was "accidental" and he had "never intended to shoot anyone", Johannes Myburgh reports. "I shot because at that split moment I believed somebody was coming out to attack me," he adds. "I didn't have time to think, I just discharged my firearm." In response to continuous, pecking questions from Nel, he adds: "I had my finger on the trigger. It was an accident that happened." 12:58 GMT - Rehearsed? - Prosecutor Nel is accusing Pistorius of giving rehearsed answers, AFP's Stephanie Findlay reports. "I'd rather face all the evidence in front of the court now, even if it's not in my favour - but that is the evidence, I can't change that," says Pistorius. Nel hits back: "Mr Pistorius. I know that you've rehearsed that answer and you want to give it." 12:51 GMT - Eyes droop - The long day of explosive testimony is taking its toll on the people in court, AFP's Johannes Myburgh reports. Police officers and court orderlies are sagging into their soft leather chairs, and eyes droop here and there. Pool photographers against the wall blink their eyes perhaps a tad longer than necessary. People on the public gallery's hard wooden benches wear weathered expressions. Pistorius's sister Aimee leans her head on her hands, looks around. 12:45 GMT - 'Fighting for my life' - Nel focusing on the inconsistencies in the statements about the two fans, AFP's Stephanie Findlay reports. "I'm fighting for my life," says Pistorius after Nel suggests he is lying. 12:41 GMT - 'You are lying' - Using the same technique as with the statements about the balcony, prosecutor Nel tries to show inconsistencies in Pistorius's version of events, AFP's Johannes Myburgh reports. Now he is discussing the second fan, trying to find out where it would have been plugged in. Pistorius's bail application statement consistently only mentioned one fan. Pistorius says he can't remember where the fan was plugged in. "All I'm saying is that both the fans were on," he says, adding that the detail should not be important. "It's very significant. It will show that you are lying," Nel retorts. 12:27 GMT - 'Not chronological' - "We're a bit all over the place at #OscarTrial, frankly. Nel turns to Pistorius's plea statement on police contamination. Not chronological," tweets AFP's Johannes Myburgh from the courtroom. 12:23 GMT - Judge and Nel - Judge Masipa interjects during cross-examination when Nel attacks Pistorius, who blames his own lawyers for the difference between the wording of his plea statement and his own testimony. When Masipa tells Nel the accused has a right to explain the statement, the prosecutor complains state witnesses were grilled for wording in their statements. "But I'm not arguing," Nel adds quickly, as Masipa shakes her head smiling slightly. 12:20 GMT - Tampering? - Pistorius suggests the scene of the shooting may have been tampered with, Stephanie Findlay reports. "I've seen many photos the state has handed to me where there are massive inconsistencies," he tells prosecutor Nel. "My firearm was moved, the cricket bat was moved from the bathroom, the disks in my room was (sic) moved, my curtains were moved." 12:15 GMT - 'I wasn't there' - Pistorius appears to blame his lawyer Barry Roux for inconsistencies between his testimony and his statements about going onto the balcony on the night of the shooting. Asked by prosecutor Gerrie Nel why there are discrepancies in the statements, Pistorius says: "At the time I wasn't there when my statement got drawn up, I wasn't the one that drew it up." Nel answers: "The mistake here was Mr Roux's, not you?" Pistorius says: "That is correct." 12:00 GMT - COURT RESUMES - Pistorius returns and court is back in session, AFP's Johannes Myburgh reports. Discussion continues on discrepancies between Pistorius's testimony and his statements about going onto the balcony on the night of the shooting. 11:06 GMT - BREAK FOR LUNCH - The trial is adjourned. 10:54 GMT - Balcony - Prosecutor Nel is putting pressure on Pistorius over evidence in his bail application and subsequent trial evidence about the night of the shooting. He is focusing on whether Pistorius went on to the balcony in his house to bring in a fan to cool the room down before hearing noise in the bathroom. Nel reads from bail application: "I went onto the balcony to bring the fan in." Pistorius answers: "I agree that the fan was partly on the balcony but I did not go onto the balcony to bring the fan in." He says he heard one noise from an amplifier, which was in the room. 10:50 GMT - Versions of evidence - Pistorius is being questioned by prosecutor Nel on the versions of evidence he gave to his bail hearing and is presenting at trial, Stephanie Findlay reports. "There is no reconstruction afterward, there is points I don't remember," the athlete says. "I don't recall switching on the lights in the bathroom… I don't recall parts of carrying Reeva down the stairs." "My lady, I think it's important to state...I furnished the bail hearing with my version what happened," he adds. "I sent that version before any of the evidence had been compiled against me." "My story hasn't changed since then," Pistorius insists. 10:32 GMT - Pistorius back in court - Pistorius has come back into the courtroom and sits distraught looking down, his back hunched, in the witness box. He had left earlier through a side entrance. His brother Carl sits with his arms around a relative in the public gallery. The physical resemblance between the brothers is striking, says AFP's Johannes Myburgh. 10:25 GMT - Shock - It seems prosecutor Gerrie Nel is trying to crack Pistorius from the start, shock him into a murder confession, AFP's Johannes Myburgh writes from the courtroom. 10:15 GMT - Crying - Aimee, Pistorius's sister, is hugging him in the witness stand as he tries to recover after being shown a graphic photo of Steenkamp's head. He is still crying, AFP's Stephanie Findlay reports. 10:14 GMT - COURT IS ADJOURNED - Court adjourned again so that a visibly upset Pistorius can compose himself. 10:11 GMT - Pistorius distress - Pistorius is visibly upset, sitting with his head in his hands in the witness stand, Stephanie Findlay reports from the court. After prosecutor Nel's last question, a photo of Steenkamp's head was shown on the screens. It is extremely graphic. The wounds on the right-hand side are clear. Pistorius looks down, his head in his hands. "I don't have to look at a picture, I was there," says Pistorius, sobbing. Steenkamp's mother June looks down as her lawyer Dup de Bruyn puts his arm around her. The court is adjourned again so Pistorius can compose himself. 10:06 GMT - Watching video - The Sky News video of Pistorius shooting at a watermelon at a shooting range is shown in court, Johannes Myburgh reports. Pistorius watches, expressionless. "I was shooting at a watermelon with a handgun," he says. "It wasn't me laughing but it was me saying those words." 10:00 GMT - Sky News video - Defence lawyer Barry Roux says prosecutors can show the Sky News video if it is not admitted as evidence, AFP's Johannes Myburgh reports. Pistorius stares expressionless at the judge. 09:58 GMT - COURT BACK IN SESSION 09:43 GMT - RECAP - A quick summary of this morning in court -- Oscar Pistorius returned to the witness stand to give further testimony about his vain attempts to stem girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's blood loss and save her life in the early hours of February 14 last year. "I was really trying to stop the bleeding, I was really trying to help Reeva breathe," Pistorius said, still struggling to retain his composure on his third day of testimony. "I was trying to hold Reeva's head with my hand to put pressure on it," he said, outlining the brutal and ultimately fatal results of gunshots to the hip, arm, hand and head. "Reeva had already died while I was holding her," he said. "There was nothing more I could do for her." -- defence lawyer Barry Roux then questioned Pistorius about suggestions he was standing on his stumps when he used a cricket bat to smash down the toilet door, behind which Steenkamp lay. He insists he can "barely stand on my stumps". Pistorius is asked by Roux about the first three sounds his neighbour Dr Johan Stipp said he heard. "The three sounds were the cricket bat hitting the door," Pistorius says, causing restless murmurs from the Myers and Steenkamp families in the gallery. -- after a brief adjournment, state prosecutor Gerrie Nel began his cross-examination of the 27-year-old athlete. "You made a mistake? You killed a person, that's what you did!" begins the lawyer nicknamed "The Bulldog". "You shot and killed her, won't you take responsibility for that?" 09:22 GMT - 'We adjourn again' - "I will stand this matter down, allow the defence to get a further look at this video and make further submissions," judge Thokozile Masipa tells the courtroom. "We adjourn again, we don't know how long." ADJOURNMENT 09:15 GMT - Rushed back - The reporters been rushed back inside the courtroom because the case could restart earlier, Johannes Myburgh now says. "Defence and prosecution lawyers are already seated, as well as the accused, staring blankly into space from the witness stand." 09:08 GMT - Adjournment until 09:30 GMT - The court will be adjourned for around another 20 minutes, an orderly tells reporters, AFP's Johannes Myburgh says. 09:07 GMT - Adjournment - The judge adjourns the case to consider whether the video, from British broadcaster Sky News, is admissable. ADJOURNMENT 08:56 GMT - Watermelon - A lengthy argument is unfolding about whether prosecutor Gerrie Nel can show a video of Pistorius at a shooting range firing at a watermelon which then explodes, months before Steenkamp's death. Nel is not allowed to introduce fresh evidence during the cross-examination, but he says it is not evidence. "It's a lot softer than brain but... it's like a zombie stopper," a man's voice is heard saying in the background of the video. 08:44 GMT - 'You killed a person' - State prosecutor Gerrie Nel goes for the jugular from the start, Johannes Myburgh reports from the courtroom. "You made a mistake? You killed a person, that's what you did!" says the lawyer nicknamed "The Bulldog". "You shot and killed her, won't you take responsibility for that?" 08:42 GMT - PISTORIUS CROSS-EXAMINATION BEGINS 08:39 GMT - Adjournment - We now have a brief adjournment, AFP's Johannes Myburgh reports from court. Defence lawyer Barry Roux consults with colleagues Kenny Oldwage and Brian Webber to check they have covered all the evidence. The group huddles with Pistorius for a few minutes. 08:36 GMT - PISTORIUS: "I DID NOT INTEND TO KILL REEVA" 08:20 GMT - Cricket bat - Defence lawyer Barry Roux asks Pistorius about suggestions by a forensic expert that he was standing on his stumps when he used a cricket bat to smash down the toilet door, behind which Steenkamp lay. He insists he can "barely stand on my stumps". Pistorius is asked by Roux about the first three sounds his neighbour Dr Johan Stipp said he heard. "The three sounds were the cricket bat hitting the door," Pistorius says. The Myers and Steenkamp families become restless in the gallery. Pistorius adds it was about five minutes between him firing the shots and using the cricket bat to hit the door. 08:16 GMT - Under arrest - Pistorius recounts how, as police milled around his home taking photos, he could not look at Steenkamp's body. "Every time I saw Reeva I got sick," he says. "It was at that point that Colonel Giliam van Rensburg (said) that since I'm the only person in the house that they are going to charge me." "He said to me that I was under arrest." Reeva Steenkamp's mother June sits looking impassively ahead as Pistorius speaks, AFP's Johannes Myburgh tells us from the court. 08:09 GMT - Friendly officer - Pistorius tells the court how a police officer in his house then came up to him and introduced himself. "He told me he was a friend of a family member of mine and I didn't have anything to worry about and he was there to look after me," Pistorius says. 08:02 GMT - 'Reeva has passed' - Pistorius then recounts how a paramedic who had arrived at his home told him of Steenkamp's death, AFP's Stephanie Findlay reports. "It's an open-plan home, so I stood a couple of metres away from the dining room in the kitchen," he says. "Then, my lady, apparently she (a paramedic) came to me and she said to me she'd like to inform me Reeva has passed." The paramedic asked him for some kind of identification for Steenkamp and he picked up her handbag. 07:58 GMT - 'Overwhelmed' - Johan Stander, the manager of the Silverwoods estate in Pretoria where Pistorius lived, arrived at the scene, Pistorius explains. "I was trying to hold Reeva's head with my hand to put pressure on it," he says. A Dr Stipp also arrived at the house, Pistorius adds. "He tried to help Reeva. It didn't seem like he knew what he was doing. It seemed like he was overwhelmed by the situation. Everything he told me to do I was already doing." 07:47 GMT - Calling 911 - Pistorius says he grabbed Steenkamp's cellphone but couldn't use it because he didn't know the passcode, AFP's Stephanie Findlay reports from the court. He then called the manager of the estate where he lived and then 911 a minute later on his own phone as she was struggling to breathe. "I spoke to the operator but I remember him telling me that I must get Reeva to the hospital and I mustn't wait for him," he adds. 07:45 GMT - 'Reeva had already died' - Pistorius tells the court that when he found Steenkamp, he put her head on his shoulder. "I was really trying to stop the bleeding, I was really trying to help Reeva breathe," said Pistorius, still struggling to retain his composure. "I was trying to hold Reeva's head with my hand to put pressure on it," he said, outlining the brutal and ultimately fatal results of gunshots to the hip, arm, hand and head. "Reeva had already died while I was holding her," he said. "There was nothing more I could do for her." 07:40 GMT - Broken arm - Pistorius is contining to give his evidence. The athlete tells the court that when he found Steenkamp, he put her head on his shoulder. "I could feel the blood was running down on me," he says. "I heard her breathing… I could see that her arm was, her arm was broken." 07:36 GMT - Cross-examination - AFP's Johannes Myburgh in court tells us that state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, nicknamed "The Bulldog", may start cross-examination today, which could be the most dramatic moment in the trial and an even more harrowing experience for Pistorius than his earlier testimony. Nel will try to pick holes in the defence's claim that Pistorius fired four shots at the locked bathroom door after he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. The state alleges he deliberately killed the 29-year-old aspiring actress. 07:30 GMT - Pistorius arrival - AFP's Stephanie Findlay tells us Pistorius arrived in court looking confident this morning. Wearing a dark suit and crisp white shirt, he took a seat against the wall and started flicking through his iPhone. The families of Pistorius and Steenkamp were in the first row of the public gallery. Relations between the two camps are civil -- Pistorius's Aunt Lois greeted the Myers family, Steenkamp's "Johannesburg family", with a pleasant hello. 07:24 GMT - WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT as South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius continues to give evidence at his murder trial in Pretoria. A sobbing Pistorius yesterday gave a a second successive day of testimony, describing the moment he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp claiming he fired four shots "before I knew it". The sprinter wept so uncontrollably as he recounted the events of the fateful night that it forced the adjournment of his trial until today. Trembling and overwrought, the champion athlete described rushing and stumbling toward his bathroom with a gun in the dead of night on Valentine's Day 2013 after hearing a suspected intruder. Journalists outside the courtroom this morning were talking with anticipation about state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, whose cross-examination of the athlete -- which could begin later today -- will be one of the most dramatic events of the trial. Stay with us for live updates from reporters at North Gauteng High Court.