Oscar Pistorius’s family have condemned “a staggering breach of trust” after the broadcast of a secret video that shows the Paralympian re-enacting the night he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The footage, leaked to Australian television, shows Pistorius running awkwardly without his prosthetic limbs, his right arm outstretched pretending to hold a gun. Two men watch with their hands in their pockets.
In another sequence the athlete can be seen struggling on all fours to drag a motionless woman out of a toilet cubicle similar to the one in his home. He is also seen with his prosthetics on, carrying the woman down a staircase.
The 27-year-old is on trial for the murder of Steenkamp, 29, a model and law graduate. He denies the charge, insisting that he mistook her for a burglar.
Mr Pistorius appears emotionless during the reconstruction. According to Channel Seven, the part of Ms Steenkamp was played by his sister, Aimee, and the video was filmed at the home of his uncle, Arnold.
Mr Pistorius’s defence team accused Channel Seven of obtaining the footage illegally. They said it had been shot for an American company, The Evidence Room, hired to map the events on the night of the killing.
“The ‘visual mapping’ was for trial preparation only and was not intended to be used for any other purpose,” said Brian Webber, who has been part of Mr Pistorius’s defence team. The defence team does not believe the content of the video will harm Mr Pistorius’s case.
Seven West Media, the company that owns Channel Seven, said the broadcast was the result of an investigation by its journalists and didn’t breach the law. “
A report on Channel Seven’s website says the footage convinced leading US forensic investigator Scott Roder that Pistorius’s story is true.
The trial resumes today.
Guardian/Bloomberg