His former colleague, Superintendent Johannes Nel, testified on Van der Westhuizen's behalf.

Van der Westhuizen is on trial before Judge Willem Louw on three charges of murder.

At the time of the triple shooting, Van der Westhuizen was the commander at the Claremont charge office and in addition to his duties, he often had to double up as the station commissioner. He had since resigned.

Nel said he first met Van der Westhuizen in 1995, whilst Nel was commanding officer at the Steenberg police station, and Van der Westhuizen was assigned to assist him.

Nel said Van der Westhuizen's performance at the Steenberg police station, then as a lieutenant, was of such high quality that Nel later wrote a long letter of praise which was placed on Van der Westhuizen's personal file.

Nel told the court: "Van der Westhuizen was highly competent and could do any task with distinction."

He said if Van der Westhuizen had ten tasks to perform in one day, he would do eight with perfection, but not touch the remaining two until he had the time to do them properly.

Van der Westhuizen had his plate full as commander of the Claremont charge office, but managed to perform additional tasks competently as well.

However, when Van der Westhuizen was appointed the deputy station commander in addition to all his other duties, he knew Van der Westhuizen would not cope.

The appointment as deputy station commander was not a promotion, but merely piled more work onto Van der Westhuizen at a stage when he was hardly managing his workload.

Nel said he discussed Van der Westhuizen's plight with a more senior police officer who had numerous police stations under his command, including Claremont.

Nel battled tears when asked by defence attorney Milton de la Harpe what his reaction had been to the news that Van der Westhuizen had allegedly shot dead his children.

The court adjourned briefly for him to recover.

Nel, his voice still faltering after the break, replied: "In the tragic circumstances of the incident, I really thought it could have happened to me as well."

Nel said he was unaware that in 1995 Van der Westhuizen had been diagnosed as having major depressive episodes.

He said Van der Westhuizen's "massive workload" had caused him to work long hours, often late into the night, without reward or recognition.

Van der Westhuizen was alleged to have shot dead his eight-year-old son Marius, his daughter Antoinette, 21 months, and a handicapped daughter Bianca (16) in July 2006.

The case continues.