Parents: Steenkamp was leaving Pistorius
Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, say she had packed her bags and was ready to leave Oscar Pistorius the day he shot and killed her. June:
He killed her. He admits he killed her…She is dead after [Pistorius made] sure she was dead. Why didn’t he just let her walk away?
Barry:
What actually came out in court is not the truth. We know what we heard there is not right…People actually heard the screams and when he realised that had happened he couldn’t stop. He had to carry on until it was finished.
On the upcoming Supreme Court appeal:
It is not finished – not finished I feel by a long way – and I can only give you my feelings after the final verdict. If the outcome is going to be a longer sentence, are we going to feel better? I don’t know. All we want is the truth to come out in the real justice side of the whole scenario
Pistorius has tried to contact them but they are not ready to talk to him. June:
All I want you to realise is that you have ruined our lives. You’ve taken her life, her possible marriage, or having a baby – our grandchild. You’ve taken her career away… You’ve taken the most precious thing out of our lives.
Brother talks about life in prison
Carl Pistorius says Pistorius is not receiving special treatment in Kgosi Mampuru II jail despite his disability. He does not have a personal bathroom but has been given a stool to shower on in the communal bathroom, and is confined to his cell for 17 hours a day and not allowed to come and go as he pleases, but has created relationships with other prisoners and wants to start a basketball program. Carl Pistorius:
He often gives fellow prisoners in the hospital wing, mostly recovering from tuberculosis, advice on how to exercise and to strengthen their bodies… He’s encountering many beautiful stories from prisoners. There are people there who have committed crimes but whose lives have changed.
Steenkamp’s mother interview
June Steenkamp tells Outlook on the BBC World Service that she thinks Pistorius terrorized her daughter. (Program link here). She says Pistoirus’s apology ‘meant nothing,’ and she ignored it. The family were worried when Reeva Steenkamp moved to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth as the capital is considered much more dangerous, and she says Pistorius tried to control Reeva and make her into ‘arm candy’. The family also were evicted from their house after media revealed they had no money, and this is why they took payments from Pistorius including during the trial. She says she will set up the Reeva Steenkamp Foundation for Abused Women:
We’re going to build shelters for women, and they’ll be taken care of, and be taught to support themselves with different ways and means, so they can live a life without the abuser, and support themselves without having to depend on someone who’s beating you up every night.
Reeva would have loved to do that. And I will do it for her.