Oscar Pistorius, the Olympian dubbed the Blade Runner, told the judge who’s presiding over his murder trial that he remembers holding his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and feeling her “blood running down on me” as she died.
The revelation came during dramatic court testimony this week.
The double-amputee took the stand for the third day to explain how he found his girlfriend, who worked as a model, by the bathroom and bleeding, shortly after he fired four shots through the door, NBC News reported.
He maintains that he fired his gun in fear, trying to defend his girlfriend from what he thought was an intruder.
When he realized that he had shot his girlfriend, he panicked, he said.
“I could feel her blood was running down on me,” Mr. Pistorius said, NBC News reported. “I could see that her arm was broken.”
He also said she was fighting to breathe, so he “swiveled around” on the floor so that he could lay her “softly on the carpet” on the bathroom floor. He then described how he tried to call for help, and then waiting in desperation for help to arrive.
“I felt helpless,” he said, NBC News reported. “I had my fingers in her mouth to help her breathe. Reeva had already died whilst I was holding her [before ambulance arrived]. I knew there was nothing I could do for her.”
Mr. Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day last year. Prosecutors allege it was murder; Mr. Pistorius claims it was self-defense.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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