Oscar Pistorius Trial: Bid to Paint Bladerunner as Victim Falls Flat for Barry Roux

Oscar Pistorius was a victim of crime "many times" despite living in a gated community with round-the-clock security, his murder trial has been told.

The claim was made by the disabled runner's lawyer Barry Roux during cross-examination of a police officer. Roux told North Gauteng High Court: "The accused was a victim of crimes on many occasions."

But this claim was swiftly undermined by a police warrant officer Adriaan Maritz, who told Roux there were no records to support his assertion. "I couldn't find anything of that sort on the system itself," he answered.

Maritz told the court that the only record of crimes concerning Pistorius before he shot dead Steenkemp in a hail of bullets on Valentine's Day last year was from when the track star arrested for assault outside his luxury home in 2009.

With the mother of Steenkamp watching on from the public gallery, Roux added that living on the exclusive Silver Woods estate outside Pretoria was "no guarantee" of personal safety.

Maritz answered: "It is possible, my lady."

Steenkamp was shot three times by Pistorius, 27, in what the prosecution allege was a fit of rage by the Olympian and Paralympian runner.

Roux is reportedly on £3,500 a day from Pistorius and the runner faces having to sell his home to meeting mounting legal costs, with the trial predicted to last until May - well beyond its allotted three weeks.

Silver Woods estate on the outskirts of Pretoria was a quiet place in which only eight crimes were reported between January 2011 and April 2013, the court heard.

Pistorius was arrested there in 2009 during a party at his house when a former girlfriend accused him of assaulting her.

Cassidy Taylor-Memmort claimed Pistorius punched a door so hard that it fell off its hinges and crushed her leg. She claimed he did it following an argument between them and she later sued him. Pistorius settled the case out of court only two days before shooting dead Steenkamp last year.