Precis from the Daily Maverick of Wolmarans testimony so far.
"15.00 So the long-awaited Wolmarans is on the stand at last. Wolmarans is a man of formidable experience who now styles himself as an “independent forensic ballistic expert” with a website proclaiming that: “The truth is nothing more than an obvious fact”. ...
After running through his impressive CV – which included work with the UN in the former Yugoslavia – Wolmarans explained that he first visited the Pistorius house on the 17th of February 2013, just a few days after the Valentine’s shooting. He was there in protective gear to take photos. Though the toilet door had already been removed by police, Wolmarans found a bullet fragment left behind in the bowl (by simple dint of sticking his gloved hand into the toilet and fishing around). He kindly handed it over to police.
Wolmarans explained that the gun used by Pistorius could have been fired as quickly as the shooter’s reflexes allowed. He also clarified that the ammunition used by Pistorius was not “Black Talon”, as was reported, but ranger ammunition – which it appears has exactly the same effect.
Wolmarans proceeded to set the stage for taking issue with the state’s ballistics findings. He said that the way in which the toilet door was reconstructed would have not been exactly accurate, and that the subsequent deviations would have had an impact on state tests conducted with lasers to determine bullet trajectory. Wolmarans also felt that the state had not sufficiently taken into account the deflection potential of the door itself: he stressed that it was impossible to determine the exact direction of the bullet without knowing precisely where it was fired from.
With the aid of his own tests - looking at wood splintering when a door was fired at and comparing those patterns to Steenkamp’s wounds – Wolmarans estimated that Steenkamp’s arm was positioned between 6 and 20 cm away from the door at the time of shooting.
Like former witness Roger Dixon, he disputed the state’s claim that bruising on Steenkamp’s lower back was caused by bullet ricochet fragments, preferring the interpretation that they were caused by falling on to the magazine rack placed in the toilet. Wolmarans also said that although it was hard to determine Steenkamp’s position when Pistorius started firing, he believed that she was upright and leaning forward.
It was dry, technical stuff, but the defence sorely needs some methodical, detailed testimony from a reputable expert witness delivering evidence on a subject that falls squarely within his field. (The defence has previously called a geologist to give evidence on everything from lights to sound, and an anaesthetist to challenge forensic pathology.) Wolmarans looks as if he’s just getting started on taking the court through his report; among the issues he’ll want to deal with tomorrow is the state’s claim that Pistorius fired his gun on his stumps, rather than while wearing his prosthetic legs."
The trouble with ballistics is that it is very complex and I look forward to what he has to say tomorrow.