Ongoing coverage  Pistorius trial reveals botched police work
By Reuters  •   PRETORIA, South Africa — South African police
faced further embarrassment at the murder trial of Oscar
Pistorius yesterday when it emerged that a valuable watch had
vanished from the crime scene and a ballistic expert had handled
the athlete’s gun without gloves.  The Olympic and Paralympic
“Blade Runner” denies the premeditated murder of his girlfriend,
Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day last year, saying he shot
her in a tragic accident after mistaking her for a night-time
intruder.  On day 10 of the trial, Col. Schoombie Van Rensburg,
the first police officer to arrive at Pistorius’ home in a
Pretoria estate, expressed his anger at forensic blunders but
had his own work called into question by the defense.  Van
Rensburg said the missing watch was one of eight originally
found in the house.  “I told the whole forensic team that those
watches were a big concern of mine,” he told the court. “Then
one of the forensic experts mentio