Court ignored important evidence: State
State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel says the North Gauteng High Court misapplied the principals regarding circumstantial evidence in the trial of Oscar Pistorius.
Nel has been presenting his arguments in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein where the State is appealing Pistorius' culpable homicide conviction, instead arguing for a murder conviction.
Nel has told a full bench of five judges, hearing the matter, that not only did the court ignore important circumstantial evidence but it viewed it in isolation.
"Although the court said I took in to account the tampering by the police and what happened in the bedroom - that court only paid lip service to that, because that's the last.
"So, it's one paragraph in the judgement. The court never went back to discuss the circumstantial evidence in what happened in the bedroom, what happened after is what the court relied on.
"The court failed to take into account what happened just before and that's the most important aspect of this trial," he said.
Earlier, Nel set out the State's submissions.
"We were not happy with the factual findings made by the court but because that is so abundantly clear to everyone, we were so cautious in our heads of arguments and we'll be cautions today not to attack the factual findings of the court but to deal with errors in law," he said.
(File photo)