This week marks the beginning of the highly publicized murder trial of model Reeva Steenkamp, girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius. On February 14 2013, Pistorius was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, who he is suspected of fatally shooting in their Pretoria apartment in South Africa.

During the bail hearing, Pistorius pleaded not guilty. It was established Pistorius fired four shots through a locked bathroom door, hitting his girlfriend Steenkamp three times, killing her. The prosecutor argued the murder was premeditated, but Pistorius claims that he thought Steenkamp was in the bed, and the person in the bathroom was an intruder.

With new evidence, a strong case is put against the 27 year-old .

“Something terrible was happening at that house”, neighbor Michelle Burger testified.

“Just after 3, I woke up from a woman’s terrible screams,” she said. “Then I also heard a man screaming for help. Three times he yelled for help.”

More testimonies have also supported Mrs. Burger. Another neighbor, Charl Johnson, also took the stand.

“That’s when the first shots were fired. I remember hearing a succession of shots,” Johnson said. “I heard the lady scream again and the last scream faded moments after the last shot was fired.

Estelle van der Merwe also said she was awoken by loud voices for about an hour and could not fall asleep. She mentions that she heard four sounds, but she is unsure what each was.

Two separate additional charges of public gun fire also surfaced in addition to the murder trial. Pistorius also pleaded not guilty to these charges. One involved firing a gun at a restaurant. The other involved putting a bullet through the sun roof of his girlfriend’s car in a separate incident.

Pistorius nicknamed  “Blade Runner” for his two carbon-fiber prosthetic legs, is the first amputee to participate in the regular Olympics during the 2012 Olympics. He also participated in the 2012 Paralympics.

Pistorius and Steenkamp were a high profile couple and Steenkamp had a promising career as a model and actress.

The trial will last for at least another 3 weeks.