Pistorius must pay for killing my girl, father rages in court
THE father of Reeva Steenkamp has told a court that her fatal shooting by boyfriend Oscar Pistorius has ‘devastated’ his family, and that he thinks about her constantly.
In a voice shaking with emotion, Barry Steenkamp revealed he has tried to imagine his daughter’s death, and said: ‘Oscar has to pay for what he did.’
Mr Steenkamp added that he would like to talk to the former track star in private.
He spoke at the sentencing hearing in South Africa for Paralympic champion Pistorius, convicted of murdering his girlfriend at his home on Valentine’s Day in 2013. The double-amputee is under house arrest after initially serving one year of a five-year jail term for manslaughter for shooting Miss Steenkamp, 29, in Pretoria.
That was overturned last year by an appeals court, which convicted Pistorius, 29, of the more serious charge of murder.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, who initially acquitted Pistorius of murder, will decide the new sentence. The hearing is scheduled to run until Friday.
Pistorius shot model and reality TV star Miss Steenkamp several times through a toilet door. He claimed in his trial that he thought he was being burgled, and that he was firing at a hiding intruder.
Barry Steenkamp gave testimony about the wrenching personal grief he suffered in the wake of his daughter’s killing. ‘She must have been in so much fear, pain,’ Mr Steenkamp said, his hands shaking at times. ‘That is what I think of all the time.’
He said Miss Steenkamp’s death contributed to his heart and other health problems, and that his wife June grieves just as much as he does – despite what he called her ‘stone-faced’ demeanour in public.