(ATR) A lawyer for Oscar Pistorius says video footage of the Olympian re-enacting the moment he fatally shot Reeva Steenkamp was illegally obtained by the Australian program that aired it Sunday.
The program, Channel Seven's "Sunday Night," included the video in an hour-long report on the case against the Paralympic gold medalist.
In the video, Pistorius walks without his prosthetic legs while pretending to aim a handgun. The Olympic sprinter demonstrates how quickly he can move without his prosthetics and how quickly he can put his prosthetics on after firing a gun.
The Paralympian is also seen with his prosthetic legs carrying his sister down a set of stairs to show how he says he carried Steenkamp the night of the shooting.
In a statement to CNN, Pistorius lawyer Brian Webber said the defense team hired a company in the United Statesto produce the video in October to help "visually map the events on the night of the accident."
According to Webber, the Evidence Room used the video to produce a "forensic animation" of the night Pistorius shot Steenkamp. The defense has kept the video out of the Olympian's ongoing murder trial.
Webber called the broadcast of the material "a staggering breach of trust and an invasion of the family's privacy."
"Whilst we cannot imagine how any of the footage would not support Oscar's version," Webber added, "we will only be in a position to comment further once we have had the opportunity to study what has been aired."
The executive producer for "Sunday Night" disagrees with the Pistorius defense team:"We would not have run the footage if we thought we had obtained it illegally.
"The material shown on 'Sunday Night' goes to the heart of both the prosecution and defense cases, including the account provided by Oscar Pistorius."
Day 38 of the trial commenced on Monday with no comment in court about the video.
Sports medicine doctor Wayne Derman took the stand as the final witness for the defense. Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel will continue his cross-examination of Derman, who has worked with Pistorius for six years, on Tuesday.
Pistorius confesses to firing the bullets that killed Steenkamp, but affirms he mistook her for an intruder on Valentine's Day of 2013. The prosecution argues the double-amputee deliberately murdered his girlfriend following an argument that night.
On March 3, Pistorius pleaded not guilty to one charge of murder and a firearms charge associated with Steenkamp's killing. If convicted, the Olympic sprinter faces 25 years in jail.
Written byNicole Bennett
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