EVIDENCE from forensic experts is likely to take centre stage over the next two weeks as the Oscar Pistorius murder trial nears its conclusion.
Defence advocate Barry Roux said at the start of the defence's case that they planned to call between 14 and 17 witnesses. Five had finished their testimony by yesterday afternoon.
At the start of the case, Roux said the defence would lead evidence about the events in question – Reeva Steenkamp's death and the two other shooting charges Pistorius is facing – as well as evidence about ballistics and sound, gunshot sounds and the sound of a cricket bat hitting a door. Evidence about disability and vulnerability is alsoexpected.
Wollie Wolmarans, a ballistics expert contracted by the defence and a former police officer, is likely to be one of the most important remaining witnesses.
According to earlier defence expert witness, forensic geologist Roger Dixon, Wolmarans arranged the tests to record the sound of shots fired at a door similar to the one through which Pistorius shot Steenkamp and the door being hit with a cricket bat. Wolmarans is also likely to testify about crime scene reconstruction based on the damage to the door and inside the toilet.
Another ballistics expert, Jannie van der Westhuizen, who has worked for state departments in the US and does crime scene reconstruction, has also been hired by the defence. Dixon said Van der Westhuizen was present when the sound tests were conducted.
Roux has said a sound expert will testify Pistorius sounds like a woman when he screams while very anxious – to contradict state witnesses' testimony of hearing a woman screaming. Pistorius testified sound tests with him screaming were done at the house of his uncle Arnold, where he has been living.
The defence also conducted tests at night involving a man and a woman screaming at Pistorius's Silver Woods Estate house to determine what neighbours may have heard. The defence is also likely to call more of Pistorius's Silver Woods neighbours to testify about what they heard on the morning of the shooting after the state called only a few of the neighbours who made statements.
The court is expected to hear from an expert who can testify to the vulnerable state of mind of a disabled person when feeling threatened, most likely a psychologist or psychiatrist. - Marzanne van den Berg