World

"You blame anybody but yourself" Pistorius told

07:31 am on 11 April 2014

The prosecutor in the Oscar Pistorius trial has accused him of blaming other people for his mistakes and adapting versions of events.

The South African paralympian on Thursday had a second day of gruelling cross-examination in his murder trial, with the prosecution accusing him of caring more about himself than the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius, 27, says he shot Ms Steenkamp, 29, in a tragic accident, firing at what he thought was an intruder hiding behind a toilet door in his home in Pretoria on 14 February last year.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel has sought to portray the accused as an arrogant hot-head who is reckless with firearms.

"You will blame anybody but yourself," Mr Nel said during cross-examination about a separate incident in which Pistorius is accused of firing a pistol in a packed restaurant.

Pistorius said the gun was given to him by a friend under the restaurant table and went off by itself.

However, police captain Christian Mangena gave evidence earlier in the trial that the weapon could fire only if the trigger was pulled.

The accused said he could not explain how the gun went off and questioned defence advocate Barry Roux's decision not to cross-examine captain Mangena on his evidence.

"Now you blame counsel Mr Roux," Mr Nel said, prompting Roux to shake his head at a colleague.

"You are lying," Mr Nel said. "You just refuse to take responsibility for anything."