Reeva: 'I am scared of u'

Reeva Steenkamp was scared of Oscar Pistorius and tried to take him to task over his public "tantrums" and outbursts at her.

This emerged from cellphone messages released yesterday in the Pretoria High Court, where Pistorius is standing trial for the murder of Steenkamp, his girlfriend of three months.

"I can't be attacked by outsiders for dating u AND be attacked by you, the one person I deserve [to be protected by]" she wrote in one message.

"I am scared of u sometimes and how you snap at me and how u will react to me", read another.

In his bail application last year, Pistorius insisted that he and Steenkamp had been in a warm and loving relationship.

But the messages speak of a quick-tempered, highly critical person prone to bouts of jealousy.

The defence has not yet had a chance to challenge this evidence.

The messages were released by Captain Francois Moller, a police cellphone analyst, who extracted more than 1700 messages between the couple from their phones.

The first message Moller read into the court record was one in which Pistorius asked Steenkamp not to speak about an alleged shooting at Tashas restaurant in January last year.

Pistorius is charged with discharging a firearm in a public space in relation to that shooting.

"Angel please don't say anything to anyone. Darren told everyone that it was his fault. I can't afford for this to come out. The guys promised not to say anything," he wrote.

The state alleges Pistorius asked his friend Darren Fresco to take responsibility for the shot (Pistorius ) allegedly fired inside the packed restaurant.

In a WhatsApp message three weeks before her death titled "I don't want to fight", Steenkamp decried how Pistorius had incessantly picked on her since he had returned from a trip to Cape Town.

The message was sent to him after the couple attended Fresco's engagement party in January.

".I understand that you are sick but its nasty. Today I really was not flirting with anyone . it makes me sick that u suggested that and that u made a scene at the table and made us leave early. I am terribly disappointed in how the day ended and how you left me," she wrote.

"We are living in [a] double-standard relationship where u can be mad about how I deal with stuff when u are very quick to act cold and offish when you're unhappy.

"Every 5 seconds I hear how u dated another chick. you really have dated a lot of people yet you get upset if I mention ONE funny story with a long-term boyfriend."

Steenkamp said she did everything "to make you happy and to not say anything to rock the boat with u".

"You do everything to throw tantrums in front of people ."

Steenkamp responded to an accusation that she had "hit on" a friend's husband.

"I'm sorry that you think that little of me. From the outside I think it looks like we are a struggle and maybe that's what we are.

"I just want to love and be loved. Be happy and make someone SO happy. Maybe we can't do that for each other. Cos right now I know u aren't happy and I am certainly very unhappy and sad."

Pistorius asked Steenkamp if they could talk things through.

"I want to talk to you, I want to sort this out . I'm sorry for things I say without thinking and for taking offence to some of your actions.

''The fact that I'm tired and sick isn't an excuse. I was upset that you just left me . to go talk to a guy and I was standing [r]ight behind you watching you touch his arm and ignore me.

"When I spoke up you introduced me which you could've done [before] but when I left you just kept on chatting to him when clearly I was upset," Pistorius wrote.

Moller, responding to prosecutor Gerrie Nel's questions about the tone of most of the messages, said "90% were loving".

His testimony followed that of Pistorius neighbour Annette Stipp, who testified to having heard three gunshots, a woman's "terrified" screams and then more apparent gunshots on the morning of February 14 last year.

Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial continues.

extracts from Reeva's messages to Oscar

Reeva: ''I just want to love and be loved. Be happy and make someone SO happy. Maybe we can't do that for each other. Cos right now I know u aren't happy and I am certainly very unhappy and sad."

''I am scared of u sometimes and how you snap at me and how u will react to me."

"I do everything to make you happy and to not say anything to rock the boat with u. You do everything to throw tantrums in front of people."

"I get snapped at and told my accents and voices are annoying. I touch your neck to show u I care and you tell me to stop. Stop chewing gum. Do this don't do that."

"... I regard myself as a lady and I didn't feel like one tonight after the way you treated me when we left."

Graeme Hosken and Marzanne van den Berg

Quotes from twittersphere:

• Zelda la Grange (?@ZeldalaGrangeSA): "If you are scared of someone, LEAVE. If you are scared of yourself GET HELP"
• Darren Simpson? (@WhackheadS): "Sounds like Oscar treated Reeva like S*** from the Jump"
• Morgana Robbertze (?@morgsiegolf): "The messages are hectic ... something bad was destined!"
• TandileM? (@TandileMti): "Can imagine how many women have alarm bells ringing listening to some of those texts and realising they're in an abusive r/ship. :("
• Sphamandla Mkhize ( @MandlaMkhize): "It's easy to say Reeva should have left Oscar but most woman find it hard to let go, they love deeply, always hoping he will change"
• Marinda Van Zyl (?@marindavz): "I had an ex who I shared similar messages with. People hope it will get better. It hardly ever does"

Compiled by Andile Ndlovu