The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria will on Wednesday hear if the State’s request for a three-week postponement of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial will be granted.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Gerrie Nel made the application for the adjournment, citing previously scheduled engagements that now clashed with the trial. The defence team didn’t object to the application.
Nel asked for this week’s proceedings to be adjourned early. He told the court that there were other long-running cases that needed attention and they shouldn’t be delayed due to Pistorius’ trial.
The prosecutor asked that the matter resume on May 5, to which judge Thokozile Masipa said she needed to think about it before making a decision on whether or not to grant the request.
The case has been postponed numerous times before for various reasons. The matter was initially set down for the first three weeks of March but was later extended to May 16.
Meanwhile, worldwide media coverage of the Pistorius trial is set to decline significantly after the Paralympian stepped down from the witness box on Tuesday. Some international journalists did not return to the High Court in Pretoria for the next witness.
The trial continues to dominate local headlines, taking the larger share of coverage in comparison to the upcoming national elections
In Tuesday’s afternoon session, nearly half of Courtroom GD was empty after international journalists chose not to return to listen to forensic expert Roger Dixon’s testimony. Many of the reporting teams will leave for their home countries and are expected to return to Pretoria in the week of the handing down of judgement.
A noticeable dip in the coverage was evident as early as the second week of the trial, with international agencies opting to follow the trial from the live feed. Reporters then returned in time to cover Pistorius in the witness box.
The trial continues to dominate local headlines, taking the larger share of coverage in comparison to the upcoming national elections.
Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year.
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