Pistorious gets more time to get ready

OSCAR Pistorius has just over a week to make sure he is “completely and utterly prepared” to tell the world what happened when he shot Reeva Steenkamp.

The anticipation of a packed courtroom fizzled out yesterday when the athlete’s murder trial was unexpectedly postponed to Monday April 7.

Pistorius, 27, shot his 29-year-old girlfriend through a toilet door at his home in Pretoria on February 14 last year. He claims he thought she was an intruder.

“This case cannot proceed today and next week as one of my assessors is unwell,” Judge Thokozile Masipa said shortly after 9.30am yesterday.

She postponed the case for the court to be “constituted properly”.

The ill assessor is Janette Henzen du Toit, manager of Legal Aid South Africa in Johannesburg.

Attorney William Booth, who specialises in criminal litigation, said if an assessor became permanently unavailable due to illness or death, a case would not necessarily have to start again.

“If there is no objection from the prosecution or defence, the case should be able to carry on with one assessor. One has to look at whether it could cause any prejudice to the accused – whether Pistorius thinks two assessors may give him a fairer trial,” Booth said.

The state closed its case on Tuesday and Pistorius was expected to take the stand yesterday after his defence team confirmed he would testify.

Booth said the defence “might be quite relieved” to have another week to prepare.

“In the next week, the defence team will be spending many hours making sure Pistorius is completely and utterly prepared. They will prepare him for his testimony in chief but also for the questions the prosecution is likely to ask him.

“A lot rests on his evidence. If he comes across as a good witness and the court believes his version is reasonably possibly true, the court may accept his version.”

Steenkamp’s mother, June, was sitting in the front bench as yesterday’s proceedings were postponed.

Steenkamp’s best friend, Gina Myers, and Trish Taylor, the mother of Pistorius’s ex-girlfriend, Samantha Taylor, also attended.