STORY: "Oscar Pistorius apologises for killing Reeva Steenkamp," published by BBC News on April 7, 2014.
GIST: Earlier, the athlete's defence team called on pathologist Jan Botha as its first witness. Mr Botha, a private pathologist who said he has carried out about 25,000 autopsies, was asked about gastric emptying and calculating Ms Steenkamp's time of death. Earlier in the trial, the state called forensic pathologist Gert Saayman who said vegetable matter in Ms Steenkamp's stomach suggested she had eaten around two hours prior to her death, which contradicted Mr Pistorius' version of events. Mr Botha disputed this conclusion, saying that determining the time of death through gastric emptying is guesswork, calling it a "highly controversial and inexact science". Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was fierce in his cross-examination of Mr Botha and sought to suggest that his evidence was unreliable since he did not attend Ms Steenkamp's autopsy and worked from photographs. Mr Pistorius sobbed loudly in court as Ms Steenkamp's injuries were described. The pathologist accepted that he was "not a ballistician" after appearing to contradict the state's account of the sequence of shots that killed Ms Steenkamp. But he insisted he was not there to "win the case for either the defence or the prosecution" after being accused by Mr Nel of making his findings fit with the defence case. "I'm here to assist the court," Mr Botha said."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26916912#%22
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog
