Mr Nhlegenthwa, the immediate neighbour to the right, claimed that he heard Oscar’s high pitch crying prior to his phone call to security at 03:16:15 when he spoke to Mr Pieter Baba to report the loud crying he heard.
When one compare the testimonies of Baba and Nhlegenthwa, in relation to this phone call at 03:16:15, a huge inconsistency jumps out. The question then is – what does this inconsistency mean?
Listen below to the cross-examination of Baba by Advocate Roux.
There was also a call from Mr Nhlengethwa, that is the neighbour of Mr Pistorius and we know that was at three sixteen thirteen and again at three sixteen thirty six. The first one did not go through, but at three sixteen thirty six, it was 44 seconds. --- That is correct, M'Lady.
And that is the call where he also spoke about the gunshots?
--- That is correct, M'Lady. (Record 434, Lines 18–25)
Mr Baba agreed when Advocate Roux put it to him that it was during the first call at 03:16 that Mr Nhlegenthwa told him about the gunshots. No mention of Oscar crying.
Now listen below to Nhlegenthwa’s version:
Then after that, at 03:16:36, there was again a call and that lasted, the duration was 44 seconds. Could you tell the court about that? Who did you … and we know it is a phone, it is a call to security? --- That is correct, M'Lady. At that moment when my call went through, M'Lady, I spoke to the gentleman there at the security gate, of which I informed him that I am staying at number 287. I first told him that I am Michael, I am staying at number 287, can you quickly come up towards my house because I hear there is a man who is crying and I think he is desperate for help, so something might have happened to him. So, but I said to him, I am not sure, but quickly check the neighbours around me. That is what I said to him. (Record 2211, Lines 24–26 & Record 2212, Lines 1–8)
There is no mention whatsoever of telling Mr Baba about gunshots.
Baba’s testimony was on Day 5 (7 March 2014) and Nhlegenthwa’s testimony was two months later on Day 26 (6 May 2014). What happened in these two months between March when Roux admitted that Nhlegenthwa spoke about gunshots and May when Mike Nhlegenthwa supposedly didn’t hear any gunshots but only a male person crying? Could it be that the defence came to realize that it would be absolutely essential to have a witness that heard Oscar’s screaming/crying before the “second sounds”?
Without such testimony there is nothing to prove that Oscar’s cries/screams could not have have been after the “second sounds” – the gunshots – and that the screaming before the “second sounds” could therefore have been those of Reeva – as testified to by the Stipps, Burger and Johnson. We must also keep in mind that there is actually no other objective evidence that all of the bat strikes came after the four gunshots. (We will deal with this in detail in our book Oscar vs The Truth).
In our book we also convincingly show that even if the Nhlegenthwas did hear someone scream before the “second sounds” that they likely heard Reeva’s screams – that they were actually the ones that made a mistake in identification and not the Stipps, Burger and Johnson.