US forensic investigators appointed by murder-accused Paralympian and Olympian Oscar Pistorius's defence team were assisted by South African police when examining evidence, the police said on Thursday.
"The residence of Mr Pistorius is no longer a crime scene and was handed back to him long ago," Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale said.
Pistorius appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on August 19 for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 in his Pretoria home.
Makgale said Pistorius's investigators visited the scene of the crime, Silverwood Estate, Pistorius's home at the time, on Monday. They had made arrangements with the police beforehand.
"The purpose of this visit was to enable them to have access to the toilet door and to reconstruct the crime scene."
The investigating officer and a ballistic expert from the police were present.
"This has been the second time that this has been done during the presence of our investigating team."
Access to evidence
Makgale said that Pistorius's team was given controlled access to the evidence.
"The forensic team of Mr Pistorius did not take any evidence from the [South African Police Service] storage facilities nor did they have any evidence in their sole possession at any time.
"In terms of South African law, the state is however obliged to make any exhibit or evidence in its possession available to an accused or defence council, upon request, in order for the accused to prepare for his or her defence."
On Tuesday, Pistorius's spokesperson said the forensic investigators from the US would assist Pistorius's defence team with his trial.
"I can confirm that a team of forensic investigators from America will be working with the defence team," spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said.
"It's very standard practice to work with experts during the preparation of any trial."
The trial
She said that the team arrived on Monday at Pistorius's Pretoria home with his lawyers. Burgess said that they would not go into the details of the investigators' work and said that that was all she could say.
At his bail hearing in August, Pistorius submitted that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.
Along with murder, Pistorius was also charged with contravening the Firearms Control Act.
The trial was moved to the high court in Pretoria and would run from March 3 to 20. The indictment lists 107 witnesses to testify for the state. – Sapa