Originally published on March 4, 2014

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Oscar Pistorius' trial entered its second day on Tuesday as the prosecution's second witness, Estelle Van Der Merwe, told the court that she heard an argument between a woman and an unknown person followed by four consecutive gunshots.

Van Der Merwe lived one or two houses down from Pistorius. She testified that she was woken up around 1:56 a.m. by a loud argument between a woman and an unknown person. The argument lasted around an hour, but she could not determine which language was being spoken.

"It seemed like two people, but I couldn't hear other person's voice," said Van Der Merwe. "I didn't know where it was coming from."

She tried to block out the noise by putting a pillow over her head and get back to sleep. She later looked out her window, but failed to make out anything. She was awoken again at 3 a.m. by four consecutive "noises". Van Der Merwe turned to her husband upon hearing the noises, who confirmed that the noises were gunshots. He looked out the window, but didn't see anything.

"You want me to describe the sounds? Bang, Bang. That's the best I can do," said Van Der Merwe.

She and her husband then went back to bed and the husband called security. Shortly after, she heard someone shouting out loud.

During cross examination, Pistorius' defense attorney tried to question whether Van Der Merwe actually heard an argument. She replied: "yes, I did."

"I have no idea where the voice was coming from," said Van Der Merwe. "I was scared to walk around the other side of the building."


The defense attorney then questioned whether Van Der Merwe heard a woman or a man's voice.

"A woman's voice is higher than a man's voice," said Van Der Merwe. "A man's voice is more like a bass."

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