Pistorius trial hears bungling police mishandled evidence and stole watch
Repeated errors made translating testimony prompt fears they may affect court's verdicts
A retired police officer told Oscar Pistorius' murder trial yesterday his colleagues were clumsy handling evidence and even stole a luxury watch from the crime scene.
Former station chief Giliam van Rensburg, who was among the first to attend the killing and was the officer who arrested Pistorius, retired last year.
He testified that an officer handled Pistorius's gun without gloves and that a watch worth up to US$10,000 went missing, calling into question the police's handling of the investigation.
The officers' conduct could have a strong bearing on the trial, if Judge Thokozile Masipa believes vital forensic evidence was so tainted as to be inadmissible.
Van Rensburg took the court through photos taken shortly after Reeva Steenkamp was shot in the early hours of February 14 last year. They included gruesome images of the 29-year-old model's fatal head wound and photos of a shirtless Pistorius covered in blood shortly after the shooting.
In several pictures the Paralympian is seen standing in his garage, expressionless and staring straight at the camera, wearing blood-soaked blue shorts and with dried blood on his left arm. The former officer testified that experts examined a blood-splattered box containing eight timepieces - but that one went missing even after he warned his officers against theft.