Pistorius photographed in bloodied prosthetics

Pretoria: Displaying photographs of a bare-chested Oscar Pistorius standing in his garage on bloodied prosthetic legs and wearing shorts soaked in his girlfriend`s blood, prosecutors attempted today to focus attention on the killing for which the double-amputee Olympian is on trial for murder, while the defense poked holes in the police investigation that followed it.

The photos were taken in Pistorius` Pretoria home by police soon after he shot Reeva Steenkamp before dawn on Feb. 14, 2013. Pistorius was seen from the front in the first photo shown in court, his muscled athlete`s chest clean of blood while he stood on limbs stained up to the knees. A second image put up on television monitors in the courtroom was taken from Pistorius` left, showing a smear of blood not far from a tattoo of a biblical verse on his back. He had shot his girlfriend about an hour earlier. Pistorius was a celebrated track runner who rose from the hardship of having his legs amputated as a baby to compete at the London Olympics. He now faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder. The prosecution says Pistorius, 27, killed Steenkamp, 29, intentionally after a loud fight. The athlete maintains he shot her with his licensed 9 mm pistol by mistake, thinking she was an intruder in his bathroom.