Two of Oscar Pistorius’ nearest neighbours said they heard a man crying loudly on the night the athlete shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
They also said they did not hear a woman screaming, contradicting earlier testimonies from other neighbours.
The witnesses were called by Mr Pistorius’ defence team to testify at his murder trial, as it seeks to prove he shot his girlfriend by mistake.
He denies intentionally killing Ms Steenkamp on 14 February last year.
The South African Paralympic sprinter says he shot her through a toilet door in a state of panic, mistaking her for an intruder.
The athlete’s next-door neighbour, Michael Nhlengethwa, told the court on Tuesday that on the night of the shooting he went to the house after hearing a man “crying very loudly”.
“I saw Oscar kneeling next to the lady, he was just crying,” the witness said.
His wife, Eontle, also testifying, said she heard the loud sound of a “male person’s voice” crying “help, help, help”.
Both witnesses said they did not hear a female screaming, contradicting prosecution witnesses who had testified to hearing a woman scream.
Ms Eontle later revealed, under cross-examination from state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, that she heard the sound of one bang, compared with the two or three bangs heard by other neighbours who had testified.
Mr Nel suggested that the noise she had heard came from the second set of bangs, after Ms Steenkamp had already been shot.
On Monday, the court heard from two other neighbours who were first at the scene – Johan Stander and his daughter Carice.
Mr Stander said the athlete “was broken” as he desperately tried to save his girlfriend, sobbing and praying for her life. He was the first person Mr Pistorius called after the shooting.
He implied that he thought Mr Pistorius’ reaction showed that the shooting had been a mistake. “I saw the truth that morning and I feel it,” he told the court.
He said the athlete told him: “I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder, please come quick.”
In an emotional testimony, his daughter, Carice Viljoen, told the court she feared the athlete would shoot himself with the gun used to kill Ms Steenkamp.
Before the Easter break, the athlete faced several days of cross-examination from Mr Nel, who accused him of using emotional outbursts “as an escape”.
As well as a ballistics expert, the defence is expected to call a psychologist 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. (BBC News)
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