"She screamed terribly and called for help. Then I heard a man calling for help three times," Michelle Burger said during questioning by prosecutor Gerrie Nel.

A neighbour heard a woman's "terrible screams" from Oscar Pistorius's house in the early hours of February 14 last year, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday.

"She screamed terribly and called for help. Then I heard a man calling for help three times," Michelle Burger said during questioning by prosecutor Gerrie Nel.

The slender woman, dressed in black, spoke in Afrikaans and had her testimony translated into English. Her evidence was not televised.

Her house is in the Silver Stream estate, on the border of the Silver Woods estate, where Pistorius had his home.

After Burger's husband called security, she heard a woman scream again.

"The screams were more intense. It was like a climax," Burger said.

"The fear in her voice was horrific."

Then she heard four gunshots.

The State will try to prove that Pistorius committed premeditated murder when he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp through a bathroom door in his Pretoria home on February 14 last year.

In addition he is charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

His lawyers will argue that he mistook her for an intruder when he shot her.