Pistorius to bare soul to millions on TV

Pistorius to bare soul to millions on TV

OSCAR Pistorius does not want to go back to jail and waste his life there, he has said in a television interview to be aired tonight. “If I was afforded the opportunity at redemption, I’d like to help the less fortunate . . .

“I’d like to believe that if Reeva could look down upon me, that she’d like me to have that life,” the Paralympian said of his murdered girlfriend and former Port Elizabeth model Reeva Steenkamp.

The interview, expected to be watched by millions of viewers in South Africa and overseas, will be the first in which the former Blade Runner gives his personal account of the events of February 14 2013 when he fatally shot Reeva.

It forms part of a Carte Blanche special that will include a panel discussion.

Pistorius, who is awaiting sentencing, maintains that Steenkamp’s death was not premeditated, but rather a tragic accident.

The interview, which has already been previewed to some British newspapers and parts of it screened as a promotion, shows Pistorius weeping and dishevelled.

In it, the 29-year-old said while he believed that he should be punished with a long sentence, he did not believe that a murder charge was appropriate.

“At times I don’t feel like I should have the right to live for taking someone else’s life.

“What’s difficult is dealing with the charge of murder,” he said.

According to the Guardian, Pistorius told broadcaster ITV he had not always been convincing in court, but blamed his performance on his long court and police ordeal.

His defence team say he is suffering from anxiety and depression.

In the interview, Pistorius admits that he owned nine to 11 firearms, but kept only his 9mm handgun at home.

Asked why he needed such an arsenal, Pistorius said that like all South Africans, he had suffered traumatic personal experience of violent crime.

Meanwhile, production is under way on another documentary on the fateful incident.

Last month, Hartiwood Films and Deepend Films announced that Beyond Reasonable Fact, a possible threepart documentary exploring the events that led up to Reeva’s death, had begun shooting.

The production companies have acquired the film and documentary rights from Pan Macmillan South Africa to Mandy Wiener and Barry Bateman’s book Behind the Door, on which the documentary will be based.

“There is something of Romeo and Juliet in their relationship, but neither of them could possibly have realised this or known of the tragedy that stalked them,” spokesman Paul Kruger said.

ý Oscar Pistorius: The Interview airs on DSTV’s M-Net and M-Net City, at 10.55pm tonight. It will be repeated tomorrow.

At times I don’t feel like I should have the right to live for taking someone else’s life – OSCAR PISTORIUS