Murder trial of 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius has begun Monday, in Pretoria, South Africa. The 27-year-old pled not guilty in the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.
The trial, partly open for media, recorded the statement of its first witness. According to the witness Michelle Burger, she heard "bloodcurdling screams" of a woman followed by gunshots, reports Reuters.
Burger said that a woman's scream in the middle of night woke her up. "I was still sitting in the bed and I heard her screams," Burger told the Pretoria High Court. "She screamed terribly and she yelled for help. Then I also heard a man screaming for help. Three times he yelled for help," she said.
She added that she thought it was a robbery. Her husband informed the security guards outside their house. "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 gun-shots," she said. "Bang ... bang, bang, bang."
"It was very traumatic for me. You could hear that it was bloodcurdling screams."
Prior to that, the double-amputee athlete denied the murder charges saying he did not fire the shots because of an argument. "No evidence can be tendered that I fired the shots because of the argument," Kenny Oldwage, one of Pistorius' attorney read out his statement, reports South Africa's Mail & Guardian Online.
Furthermore, refuting the state's arguments, Pistorius said Steemkamp must have gone to the loo and closed the sliding doors. "I approached the bathroom to defend Reeva and I. There was no basis whatsoever for the state's contention that he had wanted to kill Steenkamp," Pistorius's statement read. He also denied wearing prosthesis while firing the shots.
Steenkamp's mother June and her family and friends are all attending the trial. A single judge, Thokozile Masipa, is heading the case at Pretoria's North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, reports the Agence France-Presse. She appointed two more senior advocates to help decide her verdict. The South African courts do not have juries.
Over 300 journalists are reportedly present in the court and the state has as many as 107 witnesses for the case that is expected to last at least three weeks. If convicted Pistorius could get a minimum of 25 years of imprisonment, reports Reuters.
Last Tuesday, Gauteng High Court Judge Dunstan Mlambo ruled to allow partial telecast of the Pistorius trial. This is the country's first televised trial.
