Roux returns to questioning Vermeulen about the missing pieces of the door. He wants to know if Vermeulen checked the police register. Roux reads Vermeulen some of his testimony from yesterday where Vermeulen suggested he had checked the register, Vermeulen now says he needs to correct that - he did not.
Vermeuelen says he never claimed to be a certified tool mark examiner and doesn't see the relevance of the line of questioning.
Roux asks Vermeulen to detail the training he has received in trace analysis. Vermeuelen says he has local and international training.
Roux asks about Vermeulen's experience with trace analysis. He works in the materials analysis section but has some trace analysis experience. This goes to the fact that Vermeulen isn't a certified tool mark examiner.
Roux asks Col Vermeulen for his phone records from when he left court yesterday until today.
Pistorius lawyer Barry Roux is handing in some pieces of evidence. "Housekeeping" as he puts it.
Colonel Vermeulen is back on the stand, he's a state forensics expert.
15 minutes out from the start of day 9.
Vermeulen doesn't remember the door being wrapped in bubble wrap. On March 8, 2013 it was brought back to the scene for analysis, Vermeulen helped put the door back in the door frame.
Roux suggests that the police shoe prints were wiped off the door panel before it was brought to Vermeulen. He says a lot of people handled the door.
Roux asks if Vermeulen knows where the door was kept, he does not.
The shoe prints were on a panel of the door. Vermeulen points out where they were:
Roux has Vermeulen look at a photo and identify some shoe prints. Vermeulen says they're consistent with police shoes. Vermeulen doesn't know how they got there or how they disappeared.
Roux asks if the attitude at the forensics lab is "I've done my investigation, and that's it."
Vermeulen laughs. He says decided not to bother with Pistorius' version knowing it'd be presented in court. Roux jumps on that - "I'm not going to bother."
Vermeulen says he's happy he didn't see Pistorius' version earlier, it helped him remain objective he says.
Vermeulen says he didn't study the version, he just scanned through it.
Roux doesn't miss anything - asks who was present when he saw the bail application for the first time and how he found the file. Vermeulen says it was open on a desk.
Roux points out that Pistorius said at his bail application that he'd tried to kick down the door. Vermeulen didn't look at Pistorius' statement until last week.
Roux says: Would someone not be asked to look at those marks and find an explanation for them?
Vermeulen: Usually the crime scene investigator would put the request in for analysis. The person who collected evidence didn't think about that or it wasn't important.
Vermeulen doesn't think anyone was asked to investigate the possibility of the door being kicked down. Roux says the state had the prosthetic legs and the sock.
Vermeulen says that kicking the door down and tripping over it would result in the same amount of force.
Roux: I'm trying to understand how stumbling over it could cause the mark. Says he'll bring a plank in and asks Vermeulen to stumble over it 100 times to recreate the mark.
Vermeulen says the mark could have been made by walking over the door panel .
Roux asks if he really believes that. Vermeulen admits that he's speculating.
There's one mark that Vermeulen says he couldn't determine the cause of. Roux puts it to him that it was made by Pistorius' prosthesis.
Vermeulen says there was "other stuff" on the floor that he didn't pay attention to.
Roux asks Vermeulen to look at a photo from his report. It shows the door, the cricket bat and off to the left of it are the mysterious missing pieces of wood. Vermeulen says he must've overlooked that.
Vermeulen says this is the first time he's seen the pictures. It's the first time he's seen the splinters of wood from the door.
Roux asks how tall Vermeulen is, he's 1.79 m tall . He says weighs about 95 kilograms. He acknowledges that Pistorius is taller and leaner than he is.
Vermeulen's diagram is entered into evidence.
Roux returns to questioning Vermeulen about the missing pieces of the door. He wants to know if Vermeulen checked the police register. Roux reads Vermeulen some of his testimony from yesterday where Vermeulen suggested he had checked the register, Vermeulen now says he needs to correct that - he did not.
Mar. 13, 2014
