Pistorius's statement
Briefly, in a statement to the court, Oscar Pistorius has set out his version of events on the night Reeva Steenkamp died.
He said they went to bed and fell asleep.
He woke to close a sliding door and get a fan and went out on to the balcony, he said.
At that point he heard a noise in the bathroom and felt a "sense of terror" rush through him.
He was scared and didn't switch on the light, he said.
He was acutely aware of violent crime and had received death threats in the past, and had been a victim of crime in the past, he said. For the that reason he kept a 9mm pistol under the bed.
He said he got his gun and moved towards the bathroom, and screamed at the "intruder" to get out of the house and for Steenkamp to call the police. He thought she was still in bed.
He did not have his prosthetic legs on, and said he felt vulnerable for both himself and Steenkamp. For that reason, he said, he fired through the bathroom door.
He then saw that Steenkamp was not in bed, he said. That was when he realised she could have been in the bathroom, he said. The bathroom door was locked.
He said he went to the balcony and called for help, and then put his legs on.
He said he opened the toilet door by smashing it with a cricket bat. Steenkamp was alive inside, slumped over, he said. He took her to the bathroom, called paramedics and tried to carry her downstairs to get help, he said.
He tried to revive her but she died in his arms, he said.
- GUARDIAN.CO.UK
