Pistorius Trial: Witness Timelines 2 (E. van der Merwe)

Estelle van der Merwe: Lives in house 72 meters away from Pistorius

Was home with husband and child.  

Woke up at 1:56, heard sounds of arguing, fighting.   

Loud voice, lasting for about an hour.

Thought she heard all or mainly one voice, a woman's voice.

Couldn't tell the language.

Looked out window but couldn’t see anything.  

Was annoyed because wanted to sleep.

Put pillow over her head but still heard.

Around 3 in the morning heard four very loud sounds, explosions/bangs/thuds.  

A lot of discussion in court over the Afrikaans word she used.  

She describes them as “shortly one after the other”.   

Her husband said those were gunshots.   

After the shots there was total silence.   

Then, she doesn’t know how long after, she heard somebody crying out loud.   

She thought it sounded like a woman’s voice.