Mr Steenkamp, father to Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius’ ex-girlfriend who was killed at the athlete’s home in 2013 by Oscar Pistorius’ gunshots, told the court today to show the world photos of Reeva’s gunshot wounds, tearfully saying Oscar Pistorius must pay for his crime.
Oscar’s hearing started on Monday in South Africa with sentencing set for Friday and in Monday’s hearing a psychologist told the court that sending Pistorius to prison will do more harm than good for the athlete as he suffers from depression and anxiety.
Mr Steenkamp, a retired racehorse trainer, broke down repeatedly in the witness box as he laid bare the devastating impact his only daughter’s death had had on his life.
“I think of her every day of my life, morning, noon and night, in the early hours of the morning, I think of her all the time,” he told a sentencing hearing that will decide what punishment Pistorius will face for killing Reeva, 29.
Mr Steenkamp told the Judge that he wanted the world to see a picture of Reeva’s dead body so that “the world can see the wounds that were inflicted on Reeva and the pain she must have gone through.” He also said he declined meeting Pistorius after his daughter was shot dead.
“Not the maximum sentence,but Oscar has to pay for what he did.”
Steenkamp revealed that he and his wife did not know about Reeva’s relationship with the sprinter until before her death.
While weeping terribly, he recounted the day he heard of his daughter’s death.
“I got a phone call from June (his wife) and I couldn’t really understand what she was so upset about, screaming and shouting. She said ‘come home immediately, just come home.’ On my way home, I tried to fathom what she had tried to tell me….that’s when I started to panic,” he said, his voice barely audible between sobs, “the more I drove the more I realized that Reeva had been killed.”
Mr Steenkamp described how he speaks to Reeva, a law graduate, constantly and still finds the pain of losing her unbearable. “Our lives have changed completely,” he said.
“I talk to her every day. You know, people say be patient, two years three years and you start feeling a bit better about the whole thing, but every day of my life is the same.
“Ever since Reeva’s death, I wouldn’t say I’ve become a recluse but I can’t really mix with people any more. And I sit on that veranda two o’clock in the morning which has become a habit and I smoke my cigarettes.
“It is very difficult to explain when you take about the incident. I don’t wish that on any human being. It devastated us. I ended up having a stroke and so many things since then and I just don’t wish that on anyone in this whole world,” he said, his large body shaking with emotion and grief.
In December 2015, Pistorius’ sentence was upgraded to murder after the original trial judge was wrong on several points of law.
Pistorius served just under a year in jail for manslaughter before being allowed to serve rest of his sentence under house arrest.
Source: The Sun UK
