PRETORIA, April 14 (agencies): Oscar Pistorius has broken down on the stand for a second time today, as the prosecution continues its attempts to slowly tear apart his version of the night he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp.
Pistorius claims he thought an intruder was in his home that night, and that in his fear of a perceived attacker, fired four times through a closed cubicle door. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked about the noise Pistorius heard that made him believe someone was in the en suite bathroom. Armed with his gun in the passageway between his bedroom and the bathroom, Pistorius said he wanted to chase these perceived intruders out of his house to protect Steenkamp.
Nel then asked if Pistorius if he wanted to do to them what he'd done "to the watermelon". Last week, the court was shown a video of the athlete firing on a watermelon with a high powered gun, exploding it.
The athlete said he did not want to do such a thing to the intruder. Pistorius had already shouted in the passageway, and when Nel asked him what he said, Pistorius began weeping again. Through tears he relayed what he had said: "get the f*ck out of my house, get the f*ck out of my house."
He turned away from the court, tears in his eyes, and the court adjourned for him to compose himself.
When Pistorius returned, Nel accused the athlete of screaming for Steenkamp to get out of his house, not these perceived robbers. Nel said this was why he had started to cry at the mention of the shouting.
Pistorius said he became emotional because of the traumatising nature of the night of the shooting.
The athlete was then asked what he said to Steenkamp when he thought someone was in the house. Pistorius said he was unable to remember exactly what he'd shouted at the model, but said it closely resembled: "Reeva, call the police." Nel said it didn't make sense that just seconds prior, Pistorius had been whispering to her, and the situation had not changed.
Pistorius said he hadn't screamed before because he was concerned for the couple's safety.
The athlete then told the court of how after entering the bathroom, he could see slightly better because of the ambient light from outside.
Pistorius said he peered inside to see if someone was inside to ambush him. Then he said he started shouting again. But Nel pointed out that the athlete had failed to mention the second noise - the sound of the cubicle door shutting - that had perturbed him so much.
Pistorius insisted he had mentioned that he had heard this noise in the passage. However, Nel was insistent Pistorius had not.
Pistorius said he'd heard the cubicle door slam after screaming at Steenkamp but before he'd entered the bathroom. Nel asked if Pistorius was convinced the sound was indeed the door slamming, which the athlete confirmed.
Pistorius said he'd thought someone inside had kicked or bumped the door closed. When he arrived in the bathroom, Pistorius saw the bathroom window open and the toilet door closed. Nel once again asked why such an important detail about the door slamming was not in his bail application. Pistorius again said he was not sure. "It's even more devastating for your story that it's not in your plea explanation," Nel went on. "I put it to you, it's because you never said it to your counsel."
The lawyer then referred to Pistorius' bail affidavit, where no mention of the door slamming was evident.
"There are many things that I told my counsel that are not in there," said Pistorius. The athlete then moved on to his thoughts as he walked into the bathroom and saw the toilet door closed. He said he was scared anyone could come out and attack him. Pistorius said he then heard a noise inside the toilet, of "wood moving", or possibly the door opening. "As I heard the noise, I fired," said Pistorius.
