South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has denied “picking on” his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, as his cross-examination continues.
He was commenting on a mobile phone message Ms Steenkamp sent him.
The prosecution has been trying to portray Mr Pistorius as self-obsessed and negligent with firearms.
Mr Pistorius denies murdering Ms Steenkamp, saying he accidentally shot her dead through a door, fearing there was a burglar in his house.
Prosecutors say the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter intentionally killed his girlfriend on 14 February last year by firing a gun through a bathroom door at her after a row at his Pretoria home.
Mr Pistorius, 27, who is a double amputee, faces life imprisonment if convicted of murdering the 29-year-old model, reality TV celebrity and law graduate.
Before Thursday’s proceedings closed for the day, chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel focused his questioning on events before the shooting.
He led Mr Pistorius through the moments after he woke up at 03:00, getting out of bed to bring in two fans from the balcony and close the sliding doors.
Mr Nel took issue with Mr Pistorius’s assertion that he did not hear Reeva Steenkamp get out of bed to go to the toilet.
He also showed a police photograph of the bedroom, taken three hours after the shooting, which he said contradicted Mr Pistorius’s version of where the fans and a duvet had been placed.
“Your version is a lie,” Mr Nel said – something the defendant denied.
In a second day of intense cross-examination, Mr Pistorius said he had not meant to pull the trigger, even to fire at an intruder.
“It was an accident… I didn’t have time to think,” he said, his voice trembling after he had been generally calm in contrast to previous days. (BBC News)
