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 Testifying for the prosecution against the South African Olympic
and Paralympic track star, professional boxer Kevin Lerena described
how he, Pistorius and two others had been having dinner at Tashas
restaurant when the gun went off.
Lerena said one of the group, Darren Fresco, passed his pistol under
the table to Pistorius, telling him there was "one up" — an
indication that a round was loaded in the chamber.
"A shot went off. Then there was just compelete silence," Lerena
said. "I looked down at the floor and exactly where I looked down,
where my foot was, there was a hole in the floor."
"I had a little graze on my toe, but I wasn't hurt," Lerena added.
Pistorius immediately apologized to his fellow diners and checked
they had not been hurt, but then turned to Fresco and asked him to
take responsibility, Lerena said, testifying on the third day of
Pistorius' murder trial in Pretoria.
"'Please take the blame for me — there's too much media hype around
me'," Lerena quoted Pistorius as saying. "When the restaurant owners
came up, Darren took the blame."
Lerena, who goes by the ring name of "KO Kid", was giving evidence
in relation to a lesser charge brought against Pistorius of
discharging a weapon in a public place.
The main charge is that he murdered his girlfriend, model Reeva
Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day 2013 by shooting her through a locked
toilet door. Pistorius has pleaded not guilty, saying it was a
tragic error and he mistook her for an intruder.
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The prosecution has sought to portray the 27-year-old running star,
who had his disabled lower legs amputated as a baby and uses carbon
fiber prosthetic "blades" to run, as a gun-obsessed hot-head.
Pistorius has also pleaded not guilty to the Tashas gun offence
charge, and to a similar charge of putting a bullet through the sun
roof of a former girlfriend's car in a separate incident.
(Reporting by Lynette Ndabambi and Ed Cropley;
editing by Pascal
Fletcher)
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