Media caption Oscar Pistorius Day 25 in 60 seconds 
 
 South African athlete Oscar Pistorius "was broken" after shooting his girlfriend, his neighbour has said, as the murder trial resumed after a two-week break. 
 
 Johan Stander was the first person the athlete called after shooting Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year. 
 
 The South African Olympic sprinter denies intentionally killing her. 
 
 He says he shot through a toilet door while in a state of panic, fearing there was an intruder in his house. 
 
 The trial resumed after an Easter break. 
 
 At-the-scene Today we heard from the first people Oscar Pistorius entrusted with the chilling confession that he had just shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Johan Stander and his daughter Carice arrived at he Pistorius house, minutes after the shooting. Both seemed distraught on the stand as they testified about Ms Steekamp's last moments. Mr Stander told the court of the athlete's desperate attempts to save her. "How he begged God to keep her alive. I saw that truth that morning. I saw it and I feel it," he testified. His daughter told the court how Mr Pistorius pleaded with Ms Steenkamp not to leave him. "Stay with me, my love, stay with me," she said through tears. Both painted a desperate and sad picture of the frantic battle to save a dying Steenkamp. It is important to add though that both sides agree that after shooting the model Mr Pistorius was overcome with immense grief. What they don't agree on though are the events prior to the firing of those fateful shots - the difference between murder and a tragic accident. That is what this case will come down to when the court reaches its verdict. 
 
 Mr Stander implied that he thought Mr Pistorius' reactions showed that the shooting had been a mistake. 
 
 "I saw the truth that morning and I feel it," he told the court. 
 
 "He was desperate to save her [and] prayed to God." 
 
 Recent break-ins 
 
 The BBC's Pumza Fihlani who was at court in the capital, Pretoria, says the athlete wore a black suit, black tie and crisp white shirt, black glasses and his hair had been cut. 
 
 The Paralympic athlete, 27, had a pen in his hand and listened intently to his neighbour, she says. 
 
 Mr Stander, who lives about 350m (380 yards) from Mr Pistorius said he received a call at 03.18 on 14 February 2013. 
 
 He said the athlete told him: "I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder, please come quick." 
 
 Mr Stander said that when he and his family arrived at the house, they saw Mr Pistorius coming downstairs with Ms Steenkamp in his arms. 
 
 "I could see she had a head-wound," Mr Stander said. 
 
 "He was broken. He was screaming, he was crying, he was praying," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. 
 
 "It's not something I would like to experience again," he said. 
 
 "He asked us to assist him to take her to hospital." 
 
 Mr Stander also said there had been several recent break-ins in the private estate where he and Mr Pistorius live. 
 
 However, under cross-examination, he accepted that it was a safe place to live. 
 
 Carice Viljoen, Mr Stander's daughter who arrived with him at Mr Pistorius' home, broke down in court as she described seeing the accused carry Ms Steenkamp down the staircase. 
 
 The athlete was begging Ms Steenkamp to stay alive, she told the court. "Stay with me, my love," she quoted him as saying. 
 
 Ms Viljoen followed the athlete inside his home when he went to get identification documents because she thought he was going to shoot himself, she added. 
 
 Image caption The couple had been dating for just a few months when the incident happened in 2013 
 
 Image caption Prosecutor Gerrie Nel accused Mr Pistorius of "tailoring his evidence" during his cross-examination 
 
 Before the Easter break, the athlete faced several days of cross-examination from the state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who accused him of using emotional outbursts "as an escape". 
 
 As well as neighbours, the athlete's defence team is expected to call on a ballistics expert. 
 
 A psychologist is also set to be called to speak about Mr Pistorius' disability and his acute sense of vulnerability. 
 
 The prosecution has sought to show a pattern of reckless behaviour by the athlete and has argued that a reasonable man would have checked before firing four bullets through a locked door. 
 
 If found guilty, the 27-year-old - a national sporting hero and double amputee dubbed the "blade runner" because of the prosthetic limbs he wears to race - could face life imprisonment. 
 
 Ms Steenkamp, 29, was a model, celebrity TV star and law graduate. 
 
 If Mr Pistorius is acquitted of murder, the court must consider an alternative charge of culpable homicide, for which he could receive about 15 years in prison. 
 
 He also faces charges of illegally firing a gun in public and of illegally possessing ammunition, both of which he denies. 
 
 There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will ultimately be decided by the judge, assisted by two assessors. ||||| The sensational trial of Olympian Oscar "Blade Runner" Pistorius — charged with premeditated murder for killing his girlfriend with four shots fired through his bathroom door on Valentine’s Day of last year — resumed on Monday after a 17-day hiatus. 
 
 Following weeks of drama fit for the big screen — which was broadcast on small screens in South Africa and around the world — chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel called for a break, citing schedule conflicts. Judge Thokozile Masipa approved because the case was dragging on longer than she had expected. 
 
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 The defense is picking back up with the first person Pistorius called after the shooting, neighbor Johan Stander, on Monday. 
 
 Here's a refresher of what has already developed since the beginning of the trial on March 3. 
 
 The Prosecution 
 
 Pistorius claims he shot and killed his law student and model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, because he thought she was an intruder and felt vulnerable without his prosthetic legs. The state contests he intentionally murdered the woman after a bitter argument. 
 
 The prosecution opened with testimony from the Pistorius' neighbors, who said they heard a man and a woman yelling, followed by gunshots and then, silence. A security guard then recounted the next portion of the saga, in which Pistorius told him everything was "fine," only minutes after shooting Steenkamp. 
 
 Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius reacts during his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, on March 10, 2014. An overcome Oscar Pistorius vomited in court on Monday as he listened to harrowing expert testimony about the autopsy of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom he is accused of murdering. Bongiwe Mchunu/AFP/Getty Images BONGIWE MCHUNU / Pool via AFP - Getty Images 
 
 Others called by the prosecution painted a picture of a trigger-happy and temperamental Pistorius, not the heroic athlete that the double-amputee Olympian was once lauded as. 
 
 Pistorius’ ex-girlfriend, Samantha Taylor, testified that Pistorius kept a gun by his bedside table. She also noted that her ex "sounds like a man," when he screams — disputing an assertion brought by lead defense lawyer Barry Roux that screams heard by neighbors were those of Pistorius alone, not Steenkamp. 
 
 And Taylor said she knew those screams well, claiming Pistorius often yelled at her, before ending the years-long relationship by cheating on her with Steenkamp. 
 
 Text messages from Steenkamp were read aloud to further shed light on Pistorius’ short temper. "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will act towards me," said one. 
 
 The longer string of text message conversations between the couple, the majority of which, Roux pointed out, were loving, caused Pistorius to break down crying, something that he was prone to do, especially when details of the crime scene were shared. 
 
 “I remember. I don’t have to look at a picture. I was there.” 
 
 When portions of the autopsy on Steenkamp’s body were read by a pathologist, Pistorius retched and threw up. He vomited again when close-up images of Steenkamp’s mutilated corpse were displayed. Pistorius covered his ears with his hands while a police ballistics expert said Steenkamp was in a "defensive position" when she was shot. 
 
 The Defense 
 
 Throughout the prosecution, Roux has sought to prove that the crime scene had been handled carelessly by police, which he argued would have contaminated evidence. 
 
 Roux first called a pathologist to the stand, and pictures of the bloodied bathroom and body were once again exhibited, leading Pistorius to retch once again shortly before he testified. 
 
 But Pistorius composed himself and preceded his statements with an apology to Steenkamp’s family, which appeared to do little to affect her mother, who sat nearly expressionless during the beginning of the the runner’s testimony. 
 
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 That first day of testimony, before Pistorius was cross examined, was the defendant’s chance to portray himself as a man petrified of violence who was simply trying to protect the woman he cared for, and who cared for him. 
 
 Pistorius spent the next day on the stand recounting the night he killed his girlfriend, explaining that he thought someone had climbed into the bathroom window, but when he realized his girlfriend could be on the other side of the door, he smashed it with a cricket bat. 
 
 "I sat over Reeva and I cried,” he recalled, shaking. 
 
 Prosecutor Gerrie Nel — nicknamed "The Pitbull" — wasted no time getting to the heart of the state’s case when cross-examining the only witness who knows what happened the night Steenkamp died. 
 
 "You killed Reeva Steenkamp ... Say it," Nel demanded of Pistorius. 
 
 Pistorius’ time on the stand didn't get any easier as Nel showed a video of Pistorius practice-shooting at a watermelon, then showed a gory crime scene picture, offering a comparison of the exploding watermelon to Steenkamp's head. 
 
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 "I remember. I don’t have to look at a picture. I was there," Pistorius responded. 
 
 Nel focused on establishing that the track star "concocted" his account of the shooting, accusing him of lying, and urging Pistorius to take responsibility for Steenkamp's death. 
 
 “I blame myself for taking Reeva's life," Pistorius eventually said. 
 
 Before he left the stand, Pistorius read a Valentine’s Day card from Steenkamp — a note that Pistorius said he didn't see until after his girlfriend was dead. "I think today is a good day to tell you that … I love you,” he read aloud to the court. 
 
 The Valentines Day card and present Reeva Steenkamp gave #OscarPistorius on day before she died. @eNCAnews pic.twitter.com/1RfHXGLu6X — Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) April 15, 2014 
 
 What’s next? 
 
 Pistorius’ team will continue to try to prove that the crime scene was altered by police, and that neighbors who heard Steenkamp's screams before gunshots actually heard Pistorius’ screams before he whacked the door down with a cricket bat. 
 
 Roger Dixon, a forensic expert for the defense, already testified that the bedroom was too dark to see that Steenkamp got out of bed and said he conducted an audio test that indicated sounds of a cricket bat hitting wood could be mistaken for gunshots. 
 
 The door through which Reeva Steenkamp was shot is displayed during Oscar Pistorius' murder trial in Pretoria April 14, 2014. Olympic and Paralympic track star Pistorius is on trial for murdering his girlfriend Steenkamp at his suburban Pretoria home on Valentine's Day last year. Antoine de Ras / Pool via Reuters 
 
 In coming days, Roux is expected to call a witness who will testify that Pistorius' screams hit high pitches when he is anxious and a psychologist to dissect Pistorius’ claims of constantly feeling defenseless, according to South Africa’s Eyewitness News. 
 
 The first person Pistorius called after the shooting, neighbor Johan Stander, took the stand on Monday. 
 
 Roux has said he will call between 14 and 17 witnesses, according to The Associated Press, meaning nearly a dozen or more could remain. 
 
 The defendant’s reaction to those testimonies could be under close scrutiny after a South African columnist accused Pistorius of “taking acting lessons for your days in court.” 
 
 A post on Pistorius’ website said the claim was "devoid of all truth." 
 
 The validity of Pistorius’ show of emotion is important because the display "may affect [the] sentence because someone who is remorseful, who has committed a crime, can sometimes affect a judge," attorney Tom Mesereau, who has represented a range of high-profile clients, said on MSNBC last month. 
 
 And Pistorius’ fate lies solely in the hands of Judge Masipa and her two assessors, since South Africa has no trial by jury. 
 
 If Masipa decides, after weeks of testimony, that Pistorius is guilty of murder, he faces a minimum of 15 to 25 years in prison. Lesser charges, which could include culpable homicide and illegally possessing ammunition, might mean prison time or simply fines for the once-revered athlete. 
 
 The trial resumes. ||||| PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius' murder trial enters a critical phase Monday as his defense team attempts to recover from a faltering start and reinforce the disabled athlete's claim that he fatally shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by mistake because he was overwhelmed by a long-held fear of violent crime. 
 
 File: In this Friday April 11, 2014 file photo, Oscar Pistorius puts on his jacket as he arrives at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa. The murder trial of Pistorius is expected to enter a critical... (Associated Press) 
 
 File: In this Monday, April 14, 2014 file photo, Oscar Pistorius leaves the high court in Pretoria, South Africa. The murder trial of Pistorius is expected to enter a critical phase of testimony Monday... (Associated Press) 
 
 File: In this Tuesday, March 25, 2014 file photo, Oscar Pistorius leaves the high court in Pretoria, South Africa. The murder trial of Pistorius is expected to enter a critical phase of testimony Monday... (Associated Press) 
 
 Pistorius' mindset when he stood on his stumps in a bathroom and pulled the trigger on his 9 mm pistol in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013 remains the crux of the South African trial that has captured worldwide attention and is about to start its seventh week of globally televised proceedings. It was initially scheduled to run for three weeks. 
 
 Judge Thokozile Masipa will analyze thousands of pages of testimony before she reaches a verdict, but ultimately must ponder the pivotal question: Did Pistorius fire his gun with the intention to kill or out of a misplaced belief that his life was in danger from a perceived intruder? 
 
 South Africa does not have trial by jury, meaning Masipa will decide, with the help of two assessors, if Pistorius' overall account is believable and whether the apparent inconsistencies in his testimony count against him or are unimportant in the bigger picture. 
 
 If Pistorius' defense, which will resume calling witnesses Monday after a two-week trial recess, can show that his story of a tragic error is a reasonable explanation, even the double-amputee runner's shaky testimony would be rendered irrelevant and the judge should acquit him of murder, legal experts say. 
 
 While testifying, Pistorius sometimes contradicted earlier testimony and other times said he did not remember details. 
 
 "The test doesn't end there," former state prosecutor Marius du Toit said of Pistorius' testimony. "It's not over. They (the defense) can still show there is another plausible scenario." 
 
 Du Toit has over 20 years' experience in South Africa's criminal justice system and is following the trial closely. He said it must be shown that Pistorius had the "sole intention" to kill Steenkamp to be convicted of murder. 
 
 Pistorius, 27, doesn't dispute that he shot 29-year-old Steenkamp through a toilet door. He claims the killing was accidental and he fired four times in quick succession without thinking and while terrified, believing that an intruder had climbed up a ladder and through a bathroom window of his Pretoria villa in the pre-dawn hours and was about to come out of the cubicle and attack him. 
 
 Prosecutors charge that the story is an intricate lie designed to cover up a murder. They say the couple fought, Steenkamp fled to the toilet screaming and Pistorius followed her and shot her through the wood door while they were arguing. She was hit in the hip, arm and head. 
 
 Charged with premeditated murder, the first amputee to run at the Olympics faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. He was once widely admired for overcoming the amputation of his lower legs as a baby to earn the right to run against the world's top able-bodied athletes. 
 
 The prosecution's case appeared to be bolstered as holes in Pistorius' story were exposed when the athlete was on the stand for a fierce five-day cross-examination by prosecutor Gerrie Nel. Nel also succeeded in undermining the evidence given by the defense's first two expert witnesses, a pathologist and a former police forensic scientist. 
 
 But defense lawyers have only presented three of up to 17 witnesses they say they may ask to testify. At the outset of the defense's case, lawyer Barry Roux said Pistorius' actions on Valentine's Day last year centered on his "disability" and "vulnerability" and Pistorius' team will likely seek to rebuild the overall argument that his actions were guided by fear and not anger in a country with a high rate of violent home invasions. 
 
 Roux said he will also show that a crucial thread of the prosecution's case is not true; that neighbors heard a woman screaming before and during the shots fired by Pistorius at around 3.17 a.m. on the fatal night. The lawyer said neighbors who live closer to Pistorius' house in an upscale gated community in the suburbs of South Africa's capital never heard a woman scream. 
 
 Instead, it was Pistorius' high-pitched shrieks for help after realizing his terrible mistake, the defense argues. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Gerald Imray is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP ||||| Expert testimony to lead Pistorius trial 
 
 The trial will resume on 5 May after a two week adjournment. 
 
 Oscar Pistorius,Oscar Pistorius murder trial,Oscar Pistorius trial,Oscar Pistorius in court,Barry Roux,Gerrie Nel 
 
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– Witnesses for the defense are again taking the stand after a 17-day break in Oscar Pistorius' murder trial. Pointing to scheduling conflicts, prosecutor Gerrie Nel called for the break; judge Thokozile Masipa supported the idea given the lengthy trial, NBC News reports. It was originally supposed to take just three weeks. What's next for the trial, in what the AP calls "a critical phase": Defense lawyer Barry Roux has said he'll call witnesses to testify that Pistorius, when stressed, screams like a woman, Eyewitness News reports. That's important because neighbors said they heard male and female voices shouting before gunshots rang out; the defense is arguing that the screams were all Pistorius'. An ex-girlfriend, however, testified that he "screams like a man"—a sound she was quite familiar with, given that he screamed at her often. The first person to testify today, neighbor Johan Stander, says Pistorius "was broken" after he shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, the BBC reports. Stander was the first call Pistorius made after the shooting; he quoted Pistorius as saying, "I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder. Please come quick." "I saw the truth that morning and I feel it," Stander said. "He was desperate to save her (and) prayed to God." The defense may call up to 17 witnesses. One, a psychologist, is expected to testify regarding Pistorius' sense of vulnerability. Despite questions over contradictory statements from Pistorius, he should be found not guilty if his team can show that Steenkamp's death was a mistake, experts tell the AP. The new testimony follows a columnist's allegation that Pistorius took acting classes to prepare for the trial.