Pretoria (AFP) - Oscar Pistorius fired a gun in a restaurant, grazing a friend's foot, and then asked someone else to take the blame, the court heard Wednesday on the third day of the paralympian star's murder trial
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Professional boxer Kevin Lerena testified that Pistorius fired a bullet under a table at an upmarket Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013, the month before he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day.
"A shot went off in the restaurant, then there was just complete silence," Lerena, 21, the state's fourth witness, told the South African High Court in Pretoria.
"I looked down, and just where my foot was stationary, there was a hole in the floor," said Lerena, testifying about one of three other gun-related charges against Pistorius.
"I had a little graze on my toe. I wasn't hurt or injured," he said, but added that "there was blood."
The paralympian apologised profusely, then asked another friend, the gun's owner, to take the blame, pleading "just say it was you," according to Lerena.
Pistorius, 27, has denied intentionally killing Steenkamp and has pleaded not guilty to the other charges, including one of firing a gun through a moving car's sunroof and to illegal possession of ammunition.
The state is expected to use these incidents to illustrate past reckless behaviour in their bid to prove the sprinter planned to kill his girlfriend.
On the third day of trial, his defence also sought to prove that a married couple who heard screams on the night of Steenkamp's death colluded in their testimony, hoping to discredit the key witnesses.
Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux attempted to show that written statements and testimony from Charl Johnson and Michelle Burger contained "remarkable coincidences" that could not be accidental.
- Screams, then gunshots -
Earlier, in vivid testimony that cast doubt on Pistorius' claims of a "tragic accident," the pair told the court they heard screams then gunshots.
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He's a bit trigger-happy isn't he?
On the news yesterday morning re the screams, Pistorius's Defence alleged it was Oscar himself screaming, saying when he gets agitated he "screams like a girl".
God how embarrassed would you be to have that said about you? You'd just 'fess up and let them lock you up wouldn't you?
