Prosecutor Gerrie Nel challenged him on the firing of a gun in a busy Johannesburg restaurant while it was in his possession around a month before he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The six-time Paralympic gold medallist told the court he did not pull the trigger, contradicting earlier evidence.

"It is impossible to fire that gun without pulling the trigger," Nel said, adding: "You are lying".

The Pretoria court also heard Pistorius had rounds of .38-calibre ammunition in a safe at his home without a licence.

Pistorius said it belonged to his father, who has "refused" to make a statement to police to clarify.

"You just don't want to accept responsibility for anything, Mr Pistorius," Nel told him.

The sprinter admitted he carried his gun everywhere, usually with a bullet in the chamber, and denied an incident the court had been told of where he fired a gun out of a sunroof, saying the evidence from two witnesses was a fabrication.

Prosecution lawyer Gerrie Nel called Oscar Pistorius a liar during another day of intense cross-examination during his murder trial in Pretoria ©AFP/Getty Images



After a lunch break, Nel returned to the night of February 14 last year, when Pistorius shot dead Steenkamp in his Pretoria home.

He said he fired his weapon "by accident" after hearing a noise in his bathroom.

The 27-year-old told the court: "When I heard a noise, I didn't have time to think and I fired my weapon.

"It was an accident.

"If Reeva had come out or she had spoken to me I wouldn't have fired.

"The noise coming from the bathroom made me pull the trigger."

Nel also challenged Pistorius on assertions the duvet and a fan had been moved before photos were taken by investigators after the fatal shooting.

He was also cross-examined on his movements when he got out of bed to retrieve fans from his balcony, and whether he saw or heard Steenkamp get up to go to the toilet.

Reeva Steenkamp's family, including her mother, have listened intently during the cross-examination of Oscar Pistorius at his murder trial in Pretoria ©AFP/Getty Images



It was on returning to the bedroom that Pistorius claims he heard a noise, thought there was an intruder, and shot through a toilet door.

Earlier on a fourth day of evidence from Pistorius, he defended his relationship with model and law graduate Steenkamp.

Commenting on a mobile phone message she had sent him, in which she claimed she was scared of him, he told the court: "I think she's scared of the feelings that she had for me, she says 'I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me'.

"I never shouted or screamed at her.

"It hurt her feelings about the way I would react."

He denied Nel's claims he "picked" on 29-year-old Steenkamp.

Pistorius denied premeditated murder and illegally possessing ammunition and two further counts related to shooting a gun in public prior to the killing.

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