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LIVE: Coverage as Oscar Pistorius testifies in Pretoria
An emotional Oscar Pistorius has started his testimony at his murder trial by apologising to the family of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
In a trembling voice, he said he was "trying to protect" her and said he could not imagine their pain.
Mr Pistorius said he suffered "terrible nightmares" and often woke up smelling Ms Steenkamp's blood.
Prosecutors say he killed her in February 2013 after an argument. He says he mistook her for an intruder.
The Paralympic athlete told Ms Steenkamp's relatives that there "hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that I haven't thought about your family".
"I wake up every morning and you're the first people I think of, the first people I pray for. I can't imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that I've caused you and your family.
"I was simply trying to protect Reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night she felt loved.
"I've tried to put my words on paper many, many times to write to you. But no words will ever suffice."
Riveting testimony from Oscar Pistorius. He began by apologising to Reeva Steenkamp's family for her death, saying there wasn't a moment that he didn't think of that day.
His voice broke as he told the court that the night his girlfriend died, she was loved. We also heard of his difficulty sleeping - he took pills and anti-depressants to cope.
Another key detail from his evidence was his mother's fear of crime. "She kept a gun under a pillow" and would often call the police, we learned.
Then an event that changed his life - a boating accident in 2009, which resulted in more than 100 stitches on his face and left him with an intense fear of dying.
Mr Pistorius and his team are painting a picture of a man whose life, despite his world acclaim, has been peppered with tragedy, fear and vulnerability. The state, of course, will dispute this
In the packed Pretoria courtroom, Ms Steenkamp's mother, June, sat stony-faced while he spoke.
Mr Pistorius said he is taking anti-depressants and sleeping pills.
"I'm scared to sleep, I have terrible nightmares, I can smell blood and wake up terrified," he said.
He added that he never wanted to handle a gun again.
The athlete, 27, told the court about his difficult childhood after being born with parts of both legs missing and needing to wear prosthetic limbs.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in court says the defence team is painting a picture of a man whose life has been peppered with tragedy, fear and vulnerability.
Mr Pistorius was speaking on the first day of the defence case.
Defence lawyer Barry Roux said he will call 14 to 17 witnesses in his case to testify on "ballistics, urine emptying, damage to the toilet door, sound, and disability and vulnerability".
'Inexact science'Pathologist Jan Botha was the first defence witness.
Mr Botha, a private pathologist who said he has carried out about 25,000 autopsies, was asked about gastric emptying and calculating Ms Steenkamp's time of death.
Continue reading the main storyEarlier in the trial, the state called forensic pathologist Gert Saayman who said vegetable matter in Ms Steenkamp's stomach suggested she had eaten around two hours prior to her death, which contradicted Mr Pistorius' version of events.
Mr Botha disputed this conclusion, saying that determining the time of death through gastric emptying is guesswork, calling it a "highly controversial and inexact science".
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was fierce in his cross-examination of Mr Botha and sought to suggest that his evidence was unreliable since he did not attend Ms Steenkamp's autopsy and worked from photographs.
The pathologist accepted that he was "not a ballistician" after appearing to contradict the state's account of the sequence of shots that killed Ms Steenkamp.
But he insisted he was not there to "win the case for either the defence or the prosecution" after being accused by Mr Nel of making his findings fit with the defence case.
"I'm here to assist the court," Mr Botha said.
Mr Pistorius held his head in his hands and sobbed loudly as Ms Steenkamp's injuries were discussed.
'Terrible screams'The trial has already heard 15 days of prosecution-led testimony, which has relied on accounts from neighbours and specialist ballistics experts, as well forensic and mobile phone evidence.
One neighbour, Michelle Burger, told the court she was awoken by a woman's "terrible screams" followed by gun shots.
The athlete aims to convince the court that the screams were his, and that he shot Ms Steenkamp through a closed toilet door because he had mistaken her for an intruder.
Defendants who choose to testify are the first defence witnesses in South Africa but Mr Botha was allowed to testify first because of a family illness.
The defence is also likely to address key questions, including allegations that Mr Pistorius was reckless with guns and in not checking the whereabouts of his girlfriend before he opened fire.
Ms Steenkamp, a model, reality TV celebrity and law graduate, was hit by four bullets while in the toilet cubicle of Mr Pistorius' home in Pretoria on 14 February 2013, Valentine's Day.
Mr Pistorius is a double amputee who holds six Paralympic medals and competed in the 2012 Olympic Games.
If found guilty, the 27-year-old - dubbed the "blade runner" because of the prosthetic limbs he wore to race - could face life imprisonment.
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Mr Pistorius said in his statement at the start of the trial that he woke in the early hours and walked on his stumps to the balcony, pulled in two fans, closed the sliding door and drew curtains. He said that shortly before he had spoken to Reeva, who was in bed beside him.
He said he rejected prosecution claims that a witness heard arguing coming from the house before the shooting.
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Mr Pistorius said he heard the bathroom window sliding open and believed that an intruder, or intruders, had entered the bathroom through a window which was not fitted with burglar bars.
"Unbeknown to me, Reeva must have gone to the toilet in the bathroom at the time I brought in the fans," he said.
Mr Pistorius said he approached the bathroom armed with his firearm, to defend himself and his girlfriend, believing Ms Steenkamp was still in bed.
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Both sides agree four bullets were fired. Ms Steenkamp was hit three times.
Mr Pistorius said he fired his weapon after hearing a noise in the toilet which he thought was the intruder coming out of the toilet to attack him and Ms Steenkamp.
He said he was in a fearful state, knowing he was on his stumps and unable to run away or properly defend himself.
Mr Pistorius said he rejected claims that he was on his prostheses when he shot at the door.
A witness told the trial she woke to hear a woman screaming and a man shouting for help. She said that after the screams she heard four shots.
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At his bail hearing last year, Mr Pistorius said he went back to the bedroom after shooting at the toilet door, then noticed Ms Steenkamp was not in bed.
Mr Pistorius said he then realised she could have been in the toilet.
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Mr Pistorius said he went back to the bathroom but the toilet was locked, so he returned to the bedroom, pulled on his prosthetic legs, turned on the lights before bashing in the toilet door with a cricket bat.
Forensics expert Johannes Vermeulen told the court that the height of the marks on the door caused by the cricket bat suggest Mr Pistorius was on his stumps at the time.
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Mr Pistorius's defence team say he then called security at the gated housing complex and a private paramedic service before carrying Ms Steenkamp downstairs.
A security guard claimed it was the other way round, and he had called Mr Pistorius first after reports of gunfire. However, phone records shown to the court revealed Mr Pistorius called the estate manager at 3:19am, a minute later he called the ambulance service and at 3:21am he called estate security.
A minute later he received an incoming call - estate security calling him back.
According to police phone expert Francois Moller, Mr Pistorius called his friend Justin Divaris a short time later and just after 4:00am he called his brother Carl.
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