South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has admitted at his murder trial he was "heartbroken" when he saw the body of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp swimming in her own blood.
This confessions dropped in today April 15 after a 5-day tête-à-tête with prosecutor Gerrie Nel. The athlete told the court on Monday, "I did not fire at" my girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, though he later admitted that he blamed himself "for taking Reeva's life".
"I crouched down over her... and I checked to see if she was breathing or if she had a pulse," he said.
The prosecutor still claims Pistorius has fit his defense to the evidence in the case in contradictions to previous statements, and painting the "Blade Runner" as a narcissist who is not above lying just to salvage his fate. This move by Nel saw the athlete break down on several occasions in South Africa‘s Pretoria court.
"You’re tailoring your version as you're sitting there," the prosecutor said in court. "You see Mr. Pistorius, it's getting more and more improbable; you're building a version that is so improbable that no one would ever believe you.”
The athlete continues to deny murder stating that he thought it was an intruder but prosecutors maintain that he deliberately shot dead Ms Steenkamp after the couple had had an argument and has suggested he is staging his emotional outbursts.
Pistorius declared on Monday, "My defense is I heard the noise, I didn't have time to think about what I wanted to do,I fired out of fear."
But when Nel pointed out that those words contradicted his previous statement that he was defending himself, a weeping Pistorius said, "I did not fire at Reeva.”
When Nel asked the double-amputee Olympian, "If it was an intruder, would it have been an accident?" Pistorius responded, "I think so, my lady… I blame myself for taking Reeva's life."
He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder