Reeva Steenkamp texted Oscar Pistorius to say "I am sometimes scared of you", the athlete's trial has heard.

An emotional message from Ms. Steenkamp on January 27th last year accuses Mr. Pistorius of picking on her "incessantly" and denies flirting with her friend's husband at an engagement party.

It also accuses the athlete of being "nasty" and throwing tantrums in front of people.

"I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you act to me" says Ms. Steenkamp.

Police IT expert Captain Francois Moller told the trial he had extracted text and WhatsApp messages from the phones of both Ms. Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius.

In a message displayed on court monitors, Pistorius admits he is "tired and sick" but says it is not an excuse for his jealous behaviour. He accuses Ms. Steenkamp of ignoring him while she spoke to another man and touched his arm.

Ms. Steenkamp also complains Pistorius gets upset if she ever mentions something about an ex-boyfriend, while "every five seconds I hear how you dated another chick".

"I just want to be loved and to love. Right now I am very unhappy and sad" she says.

Captain Moller read the messages out.

A separate message from Pistorius to his girlfriend also mentions her smoking "weed" and refers to her as "Angel", while she calls him "Baba".

Captain Moller told the trial in Pretoria he had "jailbroken" the mobile phones to access near 2,000 messages between the pair.

Earlier, the court heard from Pistorius' neighbour Annette Stipp who said she woke around 3am on the morning of Ms Steenkamp's death and heard three sounds which she thought were gunshots.

Mrs. Stipp said she saw the light on in Pistorius' property, 72 metres away across open ground, and moments later heard a woman screaming - "terrified, terrified screaming".

She said she then heard a man and woman screaming at the same time, before a second set of shots and then silence. Mrs. Stipp recalled telling her husband: "It sounds like a family murder. Why else would a woman scream like that?".

The lights in Pistorius' bathroom were on from the moment she first woke up, Mrs. Stipp told the court. She said the screams did not sound muffled or like they were coming from an enclosed space.

The defence tried to discredit Mrs. Stipp's evidence when, under tough questioning, she admitted an inaccuracy in her signed police statement. She told the court she had not seen a male figure walking in Pistorius' bathroom, despite initially saying she had.

"This is not first time that it appears her memory has failed her" said defence lawyer Kenny Oldwadge.

He also suggested the second set of gunshots Mrs. Stipp described was in fact the sound of a cricket bat as Pistorius smashed down the bathroom door. Mrs. Stipp's husband, Johan Stipp, also gave evidence earlier in the trial.

He described how he went to Pistorius' house and tried to resuscitate Ms Steenkamp but that she was "mortally wounded".

Paralympic star Pistorius is accused of the premeditated murder of his girlfriend but says he shot her by mistake thinking she was an intruder.

He is also accused of illegally possessing ammunition, as well as two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in two separate incidents before the killing.

He denies all the charges.

The prosecution's case is expected to finish this week and Pistorius is likely to be the first witness for the defence. Originally expected to last for three weeks or so, the trial has now been extended until the middle of May.

Both sides agreed to an extension after just 18 of 107 possible witnesses were heard in the first three weeks.