JOHANNESBURG—A neighbor of sprinter Oscar Pistorius told a court Thursday how he tried to save the life of the athlete’s girlfriend who lay motionless on the floor as Mr. Pistorius knelt next to her crying.
In the fourth day of the trial of Mr. Pistorius for murder, the prosecution questioned Johan Stipp, a radiologist who lives about 78 meters from the house where Mr. Pistorius fired four shots through a locked bathroom door, killing his 29-year old girlfriend, model and aspiring actress Reeva Steenkamp.
The prosecution maintains that Mr. Pistorius intended to kill Ms. Steenkamp following an argument. Mr. Pistorius’s defense team say he mistook her for an intruder.
Dr. Stipp was one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the killing. After he was woken up by the sound of bangs, followed by screams and more bangs at his neighbor’s home, he called security and then approached the athlete’s house to see what had happened.
Dr. Stipp said he arrived at Mr. Pistorius’s house and saw Ms. Steenkamp lying on her back on the ground floor at the bottom of the stairs. He said the complex manager let him enter the residence when he explained he was a doctor.
He said Mr. Pistorius was kneeling on the ground crying, and looked like he had tried to resuscitate the woman, who had brain tissue in her hair.
“The first thing he said was ‘I shot her, I thought she was a burglar. And I shot her’,” Dr. Stipp said Thursday as he recounted the night. The doctor said he tried to open an airway, but she had no pulse. Dr. Stipp said Mr. Pistorius appeared to be praying, and said he would dedicate his life to God if Ms. Steenkamp lived, but she died at the scene.
Dr. Stipp’s testimony follows that of other residents who live in the same gated community as Mr. Pistorius and the housing complex next door. They have described hearing the “distressed” screams of a woman in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year.
The defense has argued that witnesses could have mistaken the sound of a cricket bat banging against the bathroom door as Mr. Pistorius tried to free Ms. Steenkamp for the sounds of gunshots. It has also said that some of the screams and loud crying heard after the first set of bangs were made by Mr. Pistorius, not a woman.
The timing of the bangs and who was screaming is key to proving the sequence of events. Mr. Pistorius’s lawyer, Barry Roux, said that, on being shot, Ms. Steenkamp suffered a head injury that rendered her nonresponsive and would have prevented her from screaming. He also said the defense carried out tests that show Mr. Pistorius sounds like a woman when he screams at certain decibel levels.
Write to Devon Maylie at devon.maylie@wsj.com
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