Neighbour testifies to ‘bloodcurdling screams’

Sprinter Pistorius pleads not guilty during murder trial.

PRETORIA: A neighbour of Oscar Pistorius testified Monday that she heard terrible screams and then shots coming from the Olympian’s home on the night the sprinter’s girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was killed.

Prosecution witness Michelle Burger said she and her husband awoke and heard ‘bloodcurdling screams.’

“It was something you can’t explain to someone else, how anxious those screams were,” said the university economist testifying in Afrikaans.

“After a while my husband went back to the balcony, he heard the screams again, it was worse, it was more intense. It was a climax, she was very scared.”

“Just after her screams, I heard shots, four shots. Four gunshots,” she said, describing one clear shot then three more clustered together.

Pistorius on Monday pleaded not guilty to murdering the 29-year-old model, stating, via a lawyer: ‘we were in a loving relationship’.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.