Gruesome Picture Displayed at Pistorious Trial

Oscar Pistorius refused to look Wednesday, as prosecutors in his murder trial displayed graphic photographs of his girlfriend’s corpse Wednesday.

The 27-year-old South African elite runner who stands accused of pre-meditated murder in the killing of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, on Valentine’s Day 2013. Pistorius admits he shot Steenkamp but insists it was an accident.

“I will not look at a picture where I’m tormented by what I saw and felt that night,” Pistorius said, sobbing and diverting his eyes. According to the Associated Press, there were audible gasps in the courtroom, including from Steenkamp’s mother, as images of the dead woman’s head, blonde hair drenched in blood and tissue protruding out at bullet wound in the back, flashed on multiple TV screens. “As I picked Reeva up, my fingers touched her head. I remember. I don’t have to look at a picture. I was there,” Pistorius said.

“It’s time that you look at it,” chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel said in response.

“You killed her. You shot and killed her,” Nel added. “Take responsibility for what you’ve done, Mr. Pistorius.”

Pistorious told the prosecutor that the shooting was “a mistake,” adding, “I’m human. I have sins.”

[AP]