Oscar Pistorius Trial: 'Snowball of Lies Devastates Runner's Story'

Oscar Pistorius listened to the prosecution set out to destroy him by listing all the alleged "lies" told by the runner during his trial for killing Reeva Steenkamp.

Lead prosecutor Gerrie Nel presented a lengthy list of alleged falsehoods to the court, and said of Pistorius's version of events: "it's all lies, a snowball of lies."

Pistorius was a "deceitful witness", Nel told North Gauteng High Court.

He said the list of alleged fabrications by Pistorius were "devastating" for the fallen star's defence, which rests on the claim that he did not know Steenkamp was in the toilet.

Judge Thokozile Masipa will decide whether she believes in what Pistorius has said in court.

Here is the list of Pistorius's "lies" compiled by Nel in the State's 'heads of argument'.

What is a 'zombie stopper':

Pistorius claimed in court that he did not understand the meaning of the phrase for a bullet. But the court was shown a video of him saying it, during a video filmed at a shooting range. Nel said: "It's just a lie. The accused never thought we would get to that video."

Bedroom fan:

Pistorius said in his bail application soon after Steenkamp's death that he had not gone to the balcony to fetch a fan. But he said later he did move the fan.

Nel claims the account changed because Pistorius realised he needed to place himself in the bedroom in order for his claim about hearing a noise to be credible.

Quoting Pistorius, Nel said: "If someone said they saw me on the balcony they would be lying."

A second fan:

Nel said Pistoruis made up his account of fetching a second fan from the balcony for the purpose of plugging it into an extension cable, because there no extra socket to plug into.

Pistorius initially said he had plugged it in, but later changed his account. Nel called this point "a clear indication of the accused's deceitfulness."

Position of duvet:

Pistorius said police tampered with the scene in his bedroom by shifting the duvet to the place he had earlier moved the fans. He denied putting the duvet on the floor.

Nel called the claim "a farce", saying blood spattered on the duvet and carpet show it was not moved after the event.

Nel said defence lawyer Barry Roux had not confronted police officers during the trial about the duvet and that Pistorius had not disputed crime scene photographs.

"The tailoring of evidence must have a domino effect. If one piece of a mosaic is moved, the others must follow," said Nel.

Claim that police tampered with evidence:

Nel attacked Pistorius' claim about police tampering, saying officers would have needed to possess "astounding foresight, with no idea of what the accused's version would be".

He continued: "No one can entertain a conspiracy like the one the court must entertain if it believes the police did this. It's just impossible. It's incomprehensible that the major changes were never taken up [by the defence].

"The only reasonable thing is that the accused tailored a version. We only blame the mendacity of the accused for this, not the defence counsel."

The denim jeans:

Nel claimed a pair of jeans was on top of the duvet, meaning the duvet could not have been shifted later in alleged tampering. "This is the straw which breaks the camel's back as far as his tailoring is concerned," said Nel.

The blue LED light:

Nel said Pistorius' claim that he covered up a blue LED light on a stereo because it was too bright was a lie. "Why bother?" he asked. Nel claimed Pistorius made up the detail so that he could claim his back was to the bed, meaning he would not have seen that Steenkamp was not there.

Against his nature:

Pistorius claimed he never spoke with Steenkamp about any sound before going to investigate it. Nel said this would have been "against his nature", after former girlfriend Samantha Taylor testified that he had spoken to her on a different occasion when a mystery noise was heard in bed.

The phone on charge and the alarm:

Why did Pistorius put his phone on charge and say he switched off an alarm in the aftermath of shooting dead his girlfriend? Nel claimed it showed Pistorius "had worked it out". The prosecutor said: "He had a version and he did not panic as to be expected if something was an accident."

Pistorius will get to put his side when Barry Roux makes the defence's heads of argument.

The case continues.