Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius was 'broken and screaming' after shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a court has heard.

Johan Stander, who worked on the estate in Pretoria, South Africa, where Pistorius lived, told the High Court that he received a call from the double amputee asking for help in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year.

Mr Stander told the court: "He said, 'please, please, please come to my house, please. I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder. Please, please come quick.'"

The witness went on to describe how he arrived at Pistorius's home three minutes later to find the athlete carrying the South African model's body down the stairs.

"Oscar was crying, really crying," Mr Stander added. "He was in pain. He asked us to help him. He wanted us to put Reeva in a car and take her to hospital. We tried to calm him down. He was broken. He was screaming, crying, praying."

Pistorius denies murder by maintaining that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired four shots through a bathroom door at his home.