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Oscar Pistorius will discover his fate on Thursday, following a five-month murder trial. The double-amputee Olympic athlete denies intentionally shooting dead Reeva Steenkamp in the toilet of his home in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year, saying he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder.

Here are 10 key moments from the trial, which has been closely followed in South Africa and across the world:

1) Apology

Oscar Pistorius took the stand on 7 April and began with an emotional apology: "I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Mrs and Mr Steenkamp, to Reeva's family, to those of you who knew her who are here today… there hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that I haven't thought about your family.

"I wake up every morning and you're the first people I think of, the first people I pray for. I can't imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that I've caused you and your family. I was simply trying to protect Reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night she felt loved." Ms Steenkamp's mother, June, watched stony-faced as he spoke.

Emotional Oscar Pistorius apologises

2) Vomiting

When a graphic photo of Ms Steenkamp's head wound was displayed on screens in the court without warning on 10 March, Mr Pistorius retched repeatedly into a bucket. From then on, broadcasters such as the BBC carried a stream from the court with a delay.

Pathologist Gert Saayman described how Ms Steenkamp was shot three times, in the head, pelvis and arm. "Black talon" ammunition - bullets that open up into a petal-like shape on impact "designed to cause maximum damage" were used, he said.

Pistorius sick as post-mortem read

3) 'Zombie stopper' footage

The prosecution played a video clip on 9 April showing Mr Pistorius shooting at a watermelon and remarking "it's not as soft as brains… but it's a zombie stopper". Prosecutor Gerrie Nel then asked the athlete: "Did you see what happened to the watermelon? It exploded, that's what happened to Reeva's head. It had the same effect into her head. Take responsibility, Mr Pistorius."

He then showed the court a photograph of Ms Steenkamp's head injuries. Mr Pistorius refused to look at it, saying in tears: "I won't look at the picture and be tormented. As I picked up Reeva, my hand touched her head. I remember. I was there. I don't have to look at a picture. I was there."

4) WhatsApp row

During testimony on 24 March, a police captain read out a text message sent by Ms Steenkamp to Mr Pistorius weeks before she was shot. "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me," she said.

The couple had argued after Mr Pistorius had accused her of flirting with another man. It was revealed their pet names for each other were "Angel" and "Baba". Capt Francois Moller said that 90% of the messages between them had been loving.

Pistorius 'scared' his girlfriend

5) Valentine's Day card

After five days of cross-examination, Oscar Pistorius ended his testimony on 15 April. His lawyer asked him to read the Valentine's Day card Reeva Steenkamp had written to him.

"I think today is a good day to tell you that, I love you," she had written. The model was shot dead in the early hours of Valentine's Day, 2013 - before they had opened each other's cards and gifts. Earlier, Mr Pistorius denied prosecution allegations that they had been arguing before the shooting. He said he had bought her a bracelet and they had been due to go the jewellers' to collect it that day.

Pistorius trial sees Valentine card

6) Cricket bat vs gunshots

On 16 April, the court heard recordings of a cricket bat striking a door and gunshots fired through the door as the defence sought to prove the sounds were similar and so could be confused from a distance.

A prosecution witnesses had testified to hearing a woman's "blood-curdling" scream followed by gunshots. The defence says those bangs were the sound of the cricket bat and the high-pitched screaming came from Mr Pistorius followed by his shouts of "help, help, help" after he realised he had shot Ms Steenkamp by mistake and before he put on his prosthetics to knock down the toilet door with the bat. Earlier, a police forensic detective alleged the athlete was on his stumps when he used the bat.

7) Prosthetics removed

On his second day on the stand on 8 April, Mr Pistorius' lawyer asked the athlete to demonstrate his height without his prosthetic legs. When he stood next to the toilet door, which was in the courtroom, his head came to a few centimetres above the door handle.

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Pretoria said his confident demeanour changed - on his stumps he seemed self-conscious. The defence argues he has heightened response to perceived danger because of his disability.

Gasps of shock and visceral howls

8) Sunroof shooting

Two prosecution witnesses told how Oscar Pistorius allegedly shot his gun in anger after being stopped by a police officer. On 7 March, his ex-girlfriend Samantha Taylor, who said the athlete carried a gun with him "all the time", recounted how the car had been stopped for speeding and a policeman had reprimanded him for leaving the gun lying on the seat. After they had driven away he fired through the sunroof of the car and laughed, she said.

Darren Fresco, the driver of the car, later gave a similar account of the incident and attested to his friend's "great love of weapons". The defence says both witnesses are unreliable. Mr Pistorius has pleaded not guilty to all the charges he faces - two counts of shooting a firearm in public and the illegal possession of ammunition, as well as murder.

Pistorius had 'big love' for guns

9) Psychiatric tests ordered

Defence forensic psychologist Merryll Vorster told the court on 11 May that Mr Pistorius had suffered from Generalised Anxiety Disorder since childhood - pointing to the amputation of his legs when just 11 months old, the divorce of his parents when he was six and the death of his mother at 15.

The prosecution then requested he undergo mental observation and the judge ordered a month-long evaluation. A panel of four doctors concluded that he did not suffer from a mental disorder and that he knew right from wrong.

10) 'Snowball of lies'

In his closing prosecution arguments on 7 August, Mr Nel accused Oscar Pistorius of being a "deceitful witness" who had told a "snowball of lies". He listed a "baker's dozen" of inconsistencies, which defence lawyer Barry Roux hit back at in his concluding remarks the next day.

Mr Nel said the athlete's three lines of defence - that he had fired either by mistake, in a state of panic or in self-defence against a perceived intruder - "could never be reconciled".

Pistorius told 'snowball of lies'

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