‘Dream team’ leaves questions unanswered

DOES Oscar Pistorius really sound like a woman when he screams? And was it really impossible for neighbours some 170m away to hear a woman’s “bloodcurdling” screams? We may never know.

The Paralympian’s defence team wrapped up its case on Tuesday, leaving many underwhelmed at the lack of explosive evidence that, it had promised, would prove Pistorius was not a murderer.

Pistorius faces a murder charge for the death of Reeva Steenkamp and several firearm-related charges.

He will now wait until August 7 to hear final arguments by the prosecution and his defence. He then faces another wait, possibly a month or even longer, before Judge Thokozile Masipa delivers her verdict.

Before the trial started, much of the focus was on his so-called dream team made up of experts in their field who, it was believed, would debunk almost every piece of evidence police had gathered and prosecutor Gerrie Nel would present.

Sixteen defence witnesses later, however — and including a harrowing stint on the witness stand by Pistorius himself — the omissions by the defence seem almost as important as what was presented.

The full picture of what the defence wanted to achieve will only become clear when defence advocate Barry Roux and Nel present their final arguments, however. Each lawyer will highlight key elements and crucial omissions and concessions.

At the start of the year, it emerged that the defence had hired a US company, The Evidence Room, which makes 3D films of crime scenes. That evidence was never presented, although a video shot by the company showing Pistorius reenacting the scene caused a stir last week when it was leaked to an Australian broadcaster.

When the state led its witnesses, Roux hammered Pistorius’s neighbours — including Michelle Burger and her husband, Charl Johnson — on their testimony that they had heard a woman scream for help and heard loud bangs, like those made by gunshots.

He promised he would lead evidence that would “surprise” everyone, proving that Pistorius’s screams could be mistaken for those of a woman.

He also promised to deliver expert evidence that would prove it was nearly impossible for the witnesses to have heard anything from such a distance. The couple live on an estate neighbouring Pistorius’s Silver Woods Country Estate.

But the promised “Oscar sounds like a woman” evidence was never delivered. And the

Sixteen defence witnesses later, the omissions by the defence seem almost as important as what was presented

defence’s acoustic expert, Ivan Lin, conceded that it would have been possible for witnesses from some distance away to differentiate between the screams of a man and a woman.

Nel’s total demolition of defence witnesses — among them forensics expert Roger Dixon — became the subject of jokes. Whether other vaunted experts — ballistics boffin Wollie Wolmarans, for example — disproved evidence led by the prosecution remains to be seen.

For Pistorius, the wait must be far worse than the butterflies he would have felt in his stomach before the starter’s gun at the Olympics.