Oscar Pistorius weeps as South African court hears riveting testimony For a short while, Oscar Pistorius had maintained his composure in the dock, his face a wan and weary mask. Then came his account of what happened the night Reeva Steenkamp died, read by his defence lawyer, and the mask cracked. Pistorius's whole body shook and he wept uncontrollably, as if a chasm of grief threatened to swallow him. The magistrate halted proceedings for a few minutes, explaining: "My compassion as a human being does not allow me to just sit here." This was the tense, taut-as-a-drum atmosphere at the bail hearing in court C in Pretoria magistrates court on Tuesday, as prosecutors built a case of premeditated murder against Pistorius and one of the world's most famous athletes gave his version of events for the first time. The prosecution asserted that Pistorius had "shot an unarmed and innocent woman" after getting out of bed, putting on his prosthetic legs and walking seven metres to fire through the locked door of the toilet. Pistorius, 26, admitted shooting his girlfriend but claimed that he had panicked in the dark and mistaken her for a burglar. The magistrate, Desmond Nair, ruled that the charge against Pistorius would be categorised as the most serious possible under South African law, dealing a blow to his hopes of securing bail. Pistorius visibly trembled at the decision while his tearful family gathered in a small circle, arms around each other, as cameras clicked and filmed from every angle. As a day of drama and riveting testimony in the sweltering courtroom unfolded, hundreds of miles away Steenkamp, a model seen on numerous magazine covers, was cremated at an emotional funeral service in Port Elizabeth. The mood among more than 100 family members and friends was described as a combination of sadness and anger. Pistorius, wearing a dark suit - at one point his brother leaned forward to turn down the collar - blue shirt and dark patterned tie, with a white tissue between his fingers, cut a mournful figure in the dock. His eyes were dark and hooded as if sore from crying, his shoulders sagged from time to time and his head bowed repeatedly. He spoke only to say "yes, sir," or "yes, your worship" softly to the magistrate a few times. Pressing for a charge of premeditated murder, the prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, said Steenkamp had been shot three times in a small 1.4m x 1.14m room where she was cowering after a shouting match. He asked: "Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?" Even if the burglar theory had been true, he added, it "still constitutes premeditated murder" because Pistorius knowingly opened fire on what he believed to be a defenceless burglar. It was left to the defence advocate, Barry Roux, to read Pistorius's sworn affidavit to the court, in which barely any floor space was visible beneath a chaotic scrum of officials, family members and reporters, photographers and TV crews with equipment. A hush descended as the statement of Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius began. The Olympian and Paralympian claimed that on 13 February, Steenkamp called him and suggested they spend the evening at his home, where they had a quiet dinner. For that reason he kept a 9mm Parabellum pistol under his bed at night. The athlete woke up in the early hours of 14 February, he added, and went on to the balcony to bring a fan in and close the sliding doors, blinds and curtains. I rushed back into the bedroom and opened the sliding door exiting on to the balcony and screamed for help. Another, named Samantha, recalled: "Reeva told me that she really liked Oscar and they both clicked and understood each other." Pistorius treated her "like gold," Samantha added. Earlier, the prosecutor told the court that Steenkamp had arrived at the house in a gated community at about 6pm on 13 February with an overnight bag. He said Pistorius fired four times into the door of the toilet where Steenkamp had taken refuge after an argument. Three of the bullets hit her, Nel said. You can run nowhere ... "The applicant armed himself, attached his prosthesis, walked seven metres to the bathroom and shot the deceased while she was in the toilet," he continued. He shot four times ... There's no possible explanation to support his report that he thought it was a burglar ... If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated. The door is closed. There is no doubt. I walk seven metres and I kill. The broken door is important. She was there, she locked the door for a purpose, I'm not allowed to give you that purpose now. He said the state had provided no evidence that the couple quarrelled or offered a motive. Nel rebutted: "The motive is 'I want to kill'." Pistorius won two gold medals and one silver at the London Paralympics last year. The court heard that Pistorius's house is valued at 5m rand (£360,000) and he owns two further properties worth a total of 1.6m rand. His occupation as an athlete provides him with around 5.6m rand a year, and he has cash investments in excess of 1m rand a year. The bail hearing continues.