Reeva's mom gets upset after prosecution compares slain model's head to watermelon

The mother of murdered South African model Reeva Steenkamp had reportedly approached prosecutor Gerrie Nel after he compared her daughter's head to a watermelon and showed a shocking and graphic image of her fatal wound to the court during the Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

Live television coverage of the trial was blocked and the proceedings adjourned after a photograph, clearly showing Steenkamp's face in profile and the head wound, was shown on courtroom monitors.

According to News.com.au, Nel had shown the court a video of Pistorius firing a pistol at a watermelon at a shooting range, and the hollow-point ammunition used by him caused the watermelon to explode, following which Pistorius could be heard saying that his gun is like a 'zombie stopper'.

Nel put it to Pistorius that the effect that the bullet had on the watermelon was the same as that which struck Steenkamp in the head, following which the report said that the image then appeared on the monitors and, for several seconds before being blocked by broadcasters, was shown on the live television feed.

When Pistorius became distressed and physically ill, the trial was adjourned, following which June Steenkamp left her seat to speak to Nel while Pistorius' siblings, brother Carl and sister Aimee, conferred with the defence team.