Exclusive: Reeva's parents speak about Pistorius release
The 11th-hour decision to suspend Oscar Pistorius' release has been a relief for Reeva Steenkamp's parents Barry and June, who say the Olympian ruined their lives.
In an Australia exclusive with Seven's Sunday Night the Steenkamps said they believe Pistorius shot Reeva knowingly in a fit of rage because she was planning to leave him.
"How can 10 months be enough? He killed her. He admits he killed her. She's dead. Why didn't he just let her walk away? Why?" June Steenkamp told reporter Steve Pennells.
"Only Oscar that will know for the rest of his life what really happened and would you like to live with it? Would I? Never, ever."
They believed Pistorius would be released on August 21 — just 10 months into his five-year sentence — before a last minute injunction by the Justice Minister Michael Masutha.
Pistorius has tried to make contact with Reeva’s family since his conviction, but the couple said they are not ready.
"I would say, 'All I want you to realise is that you have ruined our lives. You have taken her life, her possible marriage or having a baby. Our grandchild… And you have ruined our lives.' I just want to say that," June Steenkamp said.
The Justice Minister announced the decision to allow the Olympian to serve out the remainder of his five-year sentence under house arrest was premature just two days before his planned release.
The release has been suspended pending a parole board review.
Pistorius, 28, shot Reeva through the door of the toilet in his home in Pretoria on February 14, 2013.
He claims that at around 3:00AM he woke to the sound of what he thought was an intruder in the bathroom and grabbed his gun. He claimed he didn’t know it was Reeva in the bathroom and fired through the locked door.
"What actually came out in court is not the truth, we know what we heard there is not right," Barry Steenkamp told Sunday Night.
"He got angry, she went off to the toilet, locked herself inside, and then… him pulling out the gun and shooting."
"When he realized that had happened, then he couldn't stop and he had to carry on until it was finished."
Reeva's mother said she was wary of the blade-runner and had warned Pistorius against harming her daughter.
She spoke to Pistorius only once when Reeva phoned her from his car and was frightened for her life because he was driving 200 kilometres an hour.
"[I said] if you hurt my baby I will have you killed," she said.
The athlete was convicted in October of culpable homicide in 2014 — a charge equivalent to manslaughter — but prosecutors have appealed, seeking a murder conviction instead.
"If the outcome is there's going to be a longer sentence, are we going to feel better? I don't know," Barry Steenkamp said.
Having served a sixth of his five-year sentence on August 21 would make him eligible for early release under South African law but it is unknown whether the release will go ahead.
"[The parole board] misinterpreted the law and been in haste in taking a decision prematurely," Minister Masutha said in a statement.
Reeva’s ashes were scattered on her favourite beach in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, a short drive from where Barry and June live.
If you would like more information about the Reeva Steenkamp Foundation, email: info@reevasteenkampfoundation.org
Or visit: [ http://www.reevasteenkampfoundation.org/|www.reevasteenkampfoundation.org]
