Two fathers, a son and a missing daughter
Grimaces and glares as trial reaches climax
OSCAR Pistorius’s father, Henke, finally gave his son a hug in court this week. Reeva Steenkamp’s dad, Barry, was also there — no doubt wishing he, too, could have given his daughter just one final hug.
Body language experts will have a field day with a photograph of the exchange — Pistorius’s arms hang straight by his side, appearing not to return the embrace.
Both fathers made their first appearances at the murder trial this week. Barry Steenkamp has been ill and unable to attend, whereas Henke’s rocky relationship with his son was the rumoured reason for his absence.
Perhaps Henke is trying to reconcile with his children — his visits to his other son, Carl, who is recovering in hospital following a car crash last week, could have been a rude wake-up call to make amends.
Barry Steenkamp did later get a hug from Pistorius’s aunt, Lois, which he returned. But when Pistorius mumbled a “good morning” to the family as he passed them in the front row, that greeting was not returned.
But the attention over two days in the High Court in Pretoria centred around a clash of the titans when prosecutor Gerrie Nel and defence advocate Barry Roux squared off to deliver their final arguments — a last attempt to convince Judge Thokozile Masipa of the truth of their versions.
Legal experts speculated that Masipa might reveal which way she was leaning, but the softspoken judge gave little away.
If Nel’s argument is more convincing, the court should find that the Paralympian killed his girlfriend in cold blood. If Roux’s argument prevails, the court will find that it was a tragic mistake and Pistorius genuinely believed there were intruders in his house.
Nel and Roux traded punches over two days while Pistorius sat motionless. You would have thought Pistorius may have been more attentive to the closing arguments. Perhaps it was because of the medication he is on for depression, but he seemed not to be completely present, even yawning at times.
Perhaps his antipathy to Nel was captured in his notebook, in which one can only imagine the tortures that Nel might be subjected to under Pistorius’s pencil doodling.
Pistorius did, however, post a tweet after court proceedings came to a close, saying: “Thank you to my loved ones and those that have been there for me, who have picked me up and helped me through everything.”
He might consider changing the background image on his profile page — the unfortunate Nike advert with the slogan “I am the bullet in the chamber”.
The satisfaction he might have felt as Roux punched holes in Nel’s case was left for Kenny Oldwage, the other defence advocate, to express.
Roux’s argument, though often tiresome, ended with a stronger flourish than Nel’s.
While Nel was speaking, a photograph of the bloody bathroom floor was shown, causing Barry Steenkamp to avert his gaze while his wife, June, whispered in his ear.
Pistorius did not seem visibly relieved when Masipa announced that she would deliver her ruling on September 11. His family, however, heaved a collective sigh of relief.
As they made their way out of the court, Lois said loudly to Nel, “Don’t you feel ashamed?” Nel did not respond.
One can only wonder whether Lois asked her nephew the same question.