The first witness at Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial told the court on Monday she heard “bloodcurdling screams’’ from a woman, which were followed by four shots.
It was a dramatic opening to a case which could see one of global sports’ most admired role models jailed for life.
The witness, Michelle Burger, was taking the stand after the Olympic and Paralympic star pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend and model, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day last year.
Burger, who lives in an estate nearby, testified she was woken up in the middle of the night by a woman shouting for help.
“I was still sitting in the bed and I heard her screams,” she told the Pretoria High Court, while speaking in Afrikaans through an interpreter.
“She screamed terribly and she yelled for help. Then I also heard a man screaming for help. Three times he yelled for help,” Burger said.
She said she and her husband first thought it was a violent break-in — a possibility in crime-ridden South Africa.
Burger said her husband later called the private security firm guarding their upmarket housing estate in Pretoria’s eastern suburbs, before the pair heard more shouts.
“I heard the screams again. It was worse. It was more intense,” Burger told the court, her voice cracking with emotion. “She was very scared.
“Just after her screams, I heard four shots. Four gunshots,” she said. “Bang … bang, bang, bang.
“It was very traumatic for me. You could hear that it was bloodcurdling screams.”
Throughout her testimony, the 27-year-old Pistorius sat impassively, staring at the floor.
The athlete, who was born without legs but reached the 2012 Olympic 400 metres semi-final running on carbon-fiber “blades”, argues that Steenkamp’s killing was a tragic accident.
The testimony from Burger, who lived 177 metres from Pistorius’ home in a neighbouring housing estate, was not televised live at her request, although the audio was still broadcast.
Earlier, a sombre Pistorius dressed in dark suit, white shirt and black tie stood before judge Thokozile Masipa to plead not guilty to murdering Steenkamp.
He also pleaded not guilty to several other firearms charges, including one of discharging a pistol under the table of a swanky Johannesburg restaurant.
As Pistorius entered the packed courtroom, Steenkamp’s mother June followed him with her gaze.
In his opening address, Pistorius’ lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, sought to portray the state’s allegations as an unwarranted character assassination of a young man deeply in love.
Prosecutors are seeking to prove that Pistorius fired four rounds from a 9mm pistol through the door of the toilet in a deliberate attempt to kill whoever was behind it.
Steenkamp, a law graduate and women’s rights campaigner, was hit three times — in the head, arm and hip — and she was declared dead at the scene.
If the state succeeds in convincing Masipa of intent to kill, Pistorius could get a life sentence, and in all likelihood, a minimum of 25 years behind bars.
At his bail hearing last year, Pistorius admitted to culpable homicide, equivalent to manslaughter, a crime that could see him put away for 15 years.
Or he could leave the Pretoria High Court a free man, with no more than a slap on the wrist and a suspended sentence.
Coming less than a month after the rape, disemboweling and murder of a teenager near Cape Town, the 2013 shooting of Steenkamp caused outrage across South Africa.
The proceedings have attracted massive media attention, with hundreds of foreign and domestic media camped outside the Pretoria court.
It was a reflection of Pistorius’ status as a global symbol of triumph over physical adversity.
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