Oscar Pistrorius, the Blade Runner, had previously discharged a gun accidently at a restaurant and asked his friend to take the blame, a witness said on the third day of the high-profile murder trial of the athlete's girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Jason Loupis, the owner of the restaurant Tasha's, said that on Jan. 11, 2013, he heard a loud gunshot in his hotel packed with around 200 people. "I heard a loud bang. It sounded like a gun but I hoped not. I hoped it was a balloon."
Loupis said that he suspected the gunshot came from Pistorius' table where he was sitting with his friend Darren Fresco, professional boxer Kevin Lerena and British runner Martyn Rooney. Loupis went to their table to check the matter. "They all looked at me... Mr Fresco then said 'sorry Jason, my gun fell out of my pants'," said Loupis, reports News24 citing the South African Press Association.
According to another witness, Lerena, 27-year-old Pistorius accidentally discharged a bullet in the restaurant from the loaded gun that was given to him by his friend. However, after the incident, Pistorius told Fresco to take the blame.
"I remember Oscar saying 'I'm so sorry, is everybody OK, I don't know what happened'. Then he said to Darren Fresco 'please say it was you, I don't want any attention around me'. When the people from the restaurant came over- that's when Darren said it was him," Lerena told the North Gauteng High Court Wednesday, reports the Mirror.
Meanwhile, the defense lawyer Barry Roux grilled Charl Johnson, Pistorius's neighbor. Alleging that Johnson might have colluded with his wife, Michelle Burger, over the testimony, Roux said that there were six examples of words the husband-wife duo used to describe the incident. None of them were used in the written statements to police, Roux said.
The court recorded the case's first witness, Burger's statement, Monday. She said she woke up to "blood-curling screams," adding it was followed by four gun-shots.
Johnson said that he received several text messages after his cell phone number was read out in the court Tuesday. "Why are you lying in court? You know Oscar didn't kill Reeva. It's not cool," Johnson said reading out the messages, reports the Associated Press.
Further breach of privacy included Burger's photo being shown on a South African television while she was testifying, Tuesday.
Pistorius, who is charged with the murder of model-girlfriend Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year, has maintained that he used his gun after he mistook her for an intruder. If convicted he could be sentenced to minimum of 25 years in prison.
