'I'm sorry. I was simply trying to protect her. I'm scared to sleep. I can smell blood and wake up terrified'

Pistorius and his defence team have said he will testify to counter accusations that he intentionally killed Reeva Steenkamp

A tearful, stuttering and seemingly grief-stricken Oscar Pistorius finally took to the stand at his murder trial on Monday, and apologised to the family of his former girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

“I will start my evidence by tendering an apology,” he said. “I would like to apologise to Mr and Mrs Steenkamp, her family and friends.”

“I can’t imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness I have caused you and your family.

"You're the first people I think of when I wake up. You're the first people I pray for. I was trying to protect Reeva. When she went to bed that night, she felt loved.

“I’ve tried to put my pen to paper many times to write to you but no words would ever suffice.”

At the beginning of the sixth week of the trial at the North Gauteng High Court, Pistorius also revealed that he has been taking anti-depressants since the accident happened, and other medication to help him sleep at night.

"I'm scared to sleep,” he said tearfully. “I have terrible nightmares about what happened that night. I can smell blood. I wake up terrified."

Formerly a firearm enthusiast, Pistorius said he “never wants to be a near a firearm again”, and told the court of one occasion when he woke in a panic in the middle of the night, and hid in a cupboard, and telephoned his sister who came round to comfort him.

He continued by talking through his childhood, telling a story of how his mother, who died when he was 15, was called to his school after a fight with another boy who had been bullying him and who had ripped his shirt.

“My mother said ‘It’s right that you should stand up for what you believe.’ She said she won’t be back. And she gave the shirt to the [other boy’s] mother, and said to bring it back when it was mended.”

Pistorius is likely to be in the witness stand for a week or more, when he will be tested on his version of events of how his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp came to be shot and killed in his house in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine’s day last year.