South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has told his murder trial he was “heartbroken” when he saw the body of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
“I crouched down over her… and I checked to see if she was breathing or if she had a pulse,” he said.
The prosecution has now finished five days of gruelling cross-examination, which has seen the athlete break down on several occasions.
Before his cross-examination ended, the court was shown a photograph of the toilet covered in blood where Ms Steenkamp was shot in February 2013.
Mr Pistorius, 27, said that after shooting through the toilet door at what he thought were intruders, he realised he may have mistakenly killed his girlfriend, a 29-year-old model and law graduate.
He said he tried to break down the door with his shoulder, before using a cricket bat, all the time screaming in panic.
But the double-amputee sprinter said he stopped screaming when he finally opened the door and saw the body.
When asked why, he replied, his voice trembling with emotion: “I was heartbroken… overcome with sadness.”
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said the athlete had deliberately killed his girlfriend following an argument.
“You fired four shots through the door whilst knowing that she was standing behind the door. She was locked into the bathroom and you armed yourself with the sole purpose of shooting and killing her,” he said.
Mr Pistorius replied: “That is not true.”
He has argued he mistook her for an intruder. The athlete dubbed the ‘Blade Runner’ faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.
Follow Detailed Report of the Pistorius Trial on the BBC
