It is the fourth day on the emotional murder-trial the Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is facing for the death of late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
And the turn for Oscar’s neighbor, Johan Stipp is up. According to Stipp who was one of the first people on the scene on that tragic Valentine’s day testified he entered the athlete’s home, minutes after hearing screams and shots, to find the distraught South African sprinter kneeling over the lifeless body of a woman.
Just as heaven sent, Johan happens to be a doctor, but he unfortunately failed on his attempts to revive the late 29-year-old model and law graduate who had been dating Pistorius for a few months.
As Stipp checked Steenkamp for signs of life, Pistorius was begging him to save her life, Stipp told the court.
“Oscar was crying all the time. He prayed to God: ‘Please let her live, she must not die,'”
Stipp went on to say, he feared for Oscar’s life thinking it was highly likely due to his emotional state stating to be –very, very upset –the double amputee could commit suicide.
Stipp lives with his wife at the Silver Woods Country Estate in Pretoria, the same complex where Pistorius lived. He said he was awoken by the sound of bangs in the early hours of February 14 2013. As a former military doctor, he identified these as gunshots.
Stipp told the court that he went to his balcony, saw lights on in Pistorius’ house, then heard the sound of a woman screaming and a male’s voice. His bedroom is 72m from Pistorius’ bathroom.
While trying to phone Silver Woods’s security back in his bedroom, he heard three more bangs, which he thought were also shots and shouted for his wife to get to safety.
Stipp returned to the balcony and heard a man screaming three times for help. He returned to his bedroom and after consulting with his wife, got dressed and drove to security before going to Pistorius’ house.
The first thing Stipp heard from Oscar once he found the horrifying scene was
‘I shot her, I thought she was a burglar and I shot her.”
Radiologist Dr Johan Stipp determined Reeva was “fatally wounded” and said while he waited for the ambulance Oscar cried and promised to “dedicate his life to God” if girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp lived.
We found a Johan Stipp Facebook profile here.
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