Heart-wrenching testimony from bereaved dad in Pistorius case

PRETORIA, South Africa -- There was emotional testimony Tuesday in the South African court where former Paralympian track star Oscar Pistorius is being resentenced for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The double-amputee runner shot Steenkamp at his home on Valentine's Day 2013, and is being sentenced for murder after the original manslaughter verdict was over-turned by the Appeals Court.

The resentencing hearing began Monday, but on Tuesday, the court heard an emotional appeal from a devastated father.

"Oscar must pay...Oscar must pay for his crime," a choked-up Barry Steenkamp said on the stand. He wants Pistorius jailed for shooting his model girlfriend four times through a locked bathroom door, claiming he thought she was an intruder.

Steenkamp broke down in sobs on the stand, saying he constantly imagines the horror his daughter went through on that night.

"She must have been in so much fear and pain. That is what I think of all the time, I visualize that I can see it myself. It must have been utterly awful," he said through tears, his body jerking as he cried.

Steenkamp was deeply traumatised by his daughter's killing and was unable to attend the trial due to serious health problems.

"I don't wish that on any human being, it devastated us and I ended up having a stroke," he told the court.

It was hard to watch Steenkamp's heart-wrenching testimony as he explained how he sits on his veranda smoking in the early hours of the morning and often hears his wife crying.

"I hear her at night," Steenkamp said. "I hear her crying. I hear her talking to Reeva."

His mental distress was so great, he described to the court moments when he would stab himself with his diabetic injection needles.

"I didn't know if I was going mental, but I used to stand against the wall and would take the needle and stab it into my arms to see if I could feel the same type of pain," he said.

Pistorius himself sat with his head bowed for much of the testimony, occasionally wiping away a tear.

After Steenkamp finished speaking, Pistorius wept openly as he was comforted by family and friends.