Pretoria’s tough prosecutor hammered Oscar Pistorius, depicting him as a liar and a narcissistic bully who routinely berated his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, and recklessly carried a loaded gun everywhere he went.  Pistorius claims he shot and killed Steenkamp a year ago believing she was a burglar, prosecutors say that’s rubbish.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel called Pistorius’ denials “a lie”, simply not probable, and that “nobody would think it is reasonably or possibly true.”  He also took apart Pistorius’ reasoning for opening fire through the bathroom door in his posh home in a gated community of Pretoria on Valentine’s Day, 2013.  Pistorius stood by his version of the night’s events: He had assumed that Steenkamp was still in bed when he drew his gun.

Possibly more damaging to the remorseful and tragic figure Pistorius seeks to portray in court was Nel’s attack on Pistorius’ relationship with Steenkamp.  The prosecutor highlighted text messages in which Pistorius mocked Reeva for speaking in “annoying” accents”; ordering her to stop chewing gum in public; and objecting to her playing a rap song whose lyrics include an expletive and the words “Don’t Kill My Vibe.”

Nel asked why not one exchange contained the words, “I love you” – Pistorius wistfully replied that he “never got the chance.”