Fallen blade runner Oscar Pistorius, convicted in 2014 of murdering his model girlfriend, ditched his man-made legs in court Wednesday in a plea for leniency from a South African judge.
Pistorius was on his stumps in 2013 when he fatally shot Reeva Steenkamp through a toilet cubicle door in his home. He testified at his murder trial a year later that he felt vulnerable and thought an intruder was in the house.
Prosecutors have said Pistorius intentionally killed Steenkamp after an argument.
Pistorius' lawyers wanted to show just how vulnerable he is without his prosthetic legs or the carbon fiber running blades that helped make the Olympic athlete an international star.
Defense lawyer Barry Roux asked Pistorius to remove his prostheses, and the former track star then hobbled in front of Judge Thokozile Masipa, who will deliver the sentence after hearings end this week.
Pistorius appeared unsteady at times, and the demonstration drew gasps from some onlookers in the courtroom.
"He suffers from an anxiety disorder," Roux said. "We know that uncontested evidence that when he was on his stumps, his balance was seriously compromised, and without anything he won't be able to defend himself,"Roux said it was "understandable that a person with disabilities such as that of the accused would certainly feel vulnerable when faced with danger."
Roux said it was "understandable that a person with disabilities such as that of the accused would certainly feel vulnerable when faced with danger."
His lawyers have described him as a "broken man" wracked with grief over Steenkamp's death, and stress over his legal troubles,
But prosecutor Gerrie Nel spoke of the victim's father Barry Steenkamp reminding the judge of his emotional testimony the day before.
Pistorius is currently living under house arrest after initially serving only one year of a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter.
That conviction was overturned last year by an appeals court, which convicted Pistorius of the more serious charge of murder.
The South African court reconvenes July 6 for his sentencing.
Source: DAILYNEWS
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