Originally published on March 13, 2014

Oscar Pistorius was crying and pacing back and forth in his kitchen when police arrived on the night he killed Reeva Steenkamp, the station commissioner of a nearby police station said on Thursday.

Former Boschkop police station commander Colonel Schoombie van Rensburg said he arrived at Pistorius' house at 3:55 a.m. on the day of the alleged murder, February 14, 2013, to find Steenkamp's body on the floor in a pool of blood, with towels and black bags around the head.

Pistorius broke down in tears and vomited as a police witness recounted details of the crime scene on the ninth day of his murder trial

Van Rensburg said he saw Reeva Steenkamp's covered body on the floor to the left of the stairs as he arrived at the crime scene at around 3:55 a.m. on February 14 of last year. He and a paramedic put Steenkamp's bloodstained clothes in an evidence bag.

Van Rensburg went into the kitchen and saw that Pistorius was in extreme distress. He asked Pistorius what had happened, but the athlete did not answer. Clarice Stander, the daughter of estate manager Johan Stander, was comforting Pistorius. She approached the colonel and told him she and her father saw Pistorius carrying Steenkamp downstairs. Van Rensburg told the distraught sprinter to stand on the far side of the centre island in the kitchen.

An investigating officer, Warrant Officer Hilton Botha arrived on the scene later. Van Rensburg showed him the body and together they followed a trail of blood up the stairs.

At this point Van Rensburg, who said he had been called to Pistorius' Silver Woods Estate while handling an armed robbery case, had been working for 24 hours. Van Rensburg said Botha was more experienced and had not been involved in the armed robbery case.

Hilton Botha was initially the lead detective in the Pistorius investigation. Botha was criticized for bungling the investigation and was dropped from the case after it emerged that he was facing attempted