Oscar Pistorius trial day 12: Crime scene photos shown to court

Bennie Van Staden was called to the scene at around 04:50 local time and took pictures of the accused and the deceased, as well as pictures of the rooms of the house.

The police photographer rejected claims that his picture timeline was jumbled or unclear, saying that each of the photographs had the date and time it was taken on the picture.

Bennie Van Staden also described nine photographs that he took of Oscar Pistorius soon after the shooting, with the athlete wearing blood-soaked shorts in the garage of his home.

On Monday, the trial heard from a firearm specialist who said Oscar Pistorius had good knowledge of the rules on gun use and dealing with intruders.

Oscar Pistorius had bought a gun from Sean Patrick Rens, a firearms assessor, in 2012 and ordered six more guns from him – but the order was cancelled a month after Reeva Steenkamp was killed.

Sean Patrick Rens read out a competency questionnaire that Oscar Pistorius had completed before he could be issued with a firearm.

Oscar Pistorius scored top marks in these tests, which included questions on the legal issues around shooting intruders.

One of the questions in the test was: “There is no security gate between you and the burglars. They are armed and they advance towards you. Can you discharge your firearm because you fear for your life?”

To which Oscar Pistorius replied: “Yes.”

Another question was: “Explain the legal requirements when using a firearm for private use”, to which Oscar Pistorius answered: “Attack must be against you, it must be unlawful, it must be against persons.”

Answering the final question on the importance of target identification, Oscar Pistorius said: “Always know your target and what lies behind.”