Oscar Pistorius Saga: June Steenkamp quietly leaves court

Oscar Pistorius is seen in the North Gauteng High Court, as Reeva Steenkamp's mother, June, looks on. (Foto24)

Pretoria - June Steenkamp silently left Oscar Pistorius's murder trial on Monday as pictures showing her daughter Reeva's blood on his body were screened during the testimony of a police photographer.

Led by a woman from the ANC Woman's League, she left with another woman discreetly through a side door as an interpreter confirmed the times the photographs were taken of Pistorius's legs covered in blood.


Earlier, Pistorius's sister, Aimee, had approached June Steenkamp and kneeled at her feet, speaking to her. They nodded and patted each other's hands.

Warrant Officer Barend van Staden was reading into the record pictures he took on the morning of 14 February 2013, when Pistorius shot Steenkamp dead.

As the times were reeled off for the court record, Pistorius covered his eyes with a hand as pictures of himself with bloodied shorts and a bloodied sock were shown.

Pistorius washed hands - witness

The pictures Van Staden took of Steenkamp herself were not shown to the court, with only a white screen and a short caption shown. He had a file of photographs in front of him.

Van Staden said earlier that he had been told that Pistorius had washed his hands before the photographs were taken in the garage of Pistorius's home in Silver Woods estate, Pretoria.

Van Staden explained the normal process - when he was finished at a crime scene, the photos were handed in to an administration clerk who filed that as a master, and he was given a working copy.

Pistorius is accused of the premeditated murder of Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on 14 February last year. He shot her through the closed door of his toilet, apparently believing she was an intruder.

In addition to the murder charge, Pistorius is charged with contraventions of the Firearms Control Act. He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.

On 30 September 2012 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.