Reeva Steenkamp’s heartbroken dad begs court to show graphic pics of her gunshot injuries … and says Oscar Pistorius ‘must pay’
Father Barry told judge how he has driven pins into his body to 'try and feel the same pain'
REEVA Steenkamp’s heartbroken father today told Oscar Pistorius that he ‘must pay’ for his daughter’s murder and return to jail as he addressed the disgraced athlete directly for the first time.
In dramatic testimony, Barry Steenkamp, 73, described how he had repeatedly self-harmed and driven needles into his own body since her daughter’s death to ‘try and feel the same pain that she went through’ on the night she was shot dead by Pistorius, three years ago.
The shamed sprinter is currently in the High Court in Pretoria to decide his jail sentence for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The Blade Runner faces at least 15 years behind bars for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
The retired racehorse trainer broke down repeatedly in the witness box as he laid bare the devastating impact his only daughter’s death had had on his life.
“I think of her every day of my life, morning, noon and night, in the early hours of the morning, I think of her all the time,” he told a sentencing hearing that will decide what punishment Pistorius will face for killing Reeva, 29.
Mr Steenkamp told the Judge that he wanted the world to see a picture of Reeva’s dead body so that "the world can see the wounds that were inflicted on Reeva and the pain she must have gone through."
Pistorius locked eyes with his victim’s father for the first time across court, as the older man told him that although he had spurned his requests to meet, he would be prepared to hear directly from him one day. And although he and his wife, June, 69, had forgiven the killer, they were convinced he should to lose his freedom.
Pistorius, who was seen sobbing in court earlier today, is coping with the stress of the trial through the support of his family.
Brother Carl shared a cute family picture on Twitter yesterday with the caption: "Emotionally spent after a day in court, Oscar Pistorius falls asleep with his godson, niece and nephew."
A clutch of female supporters, who had queued for hours for a seat in the court’s public gallery, gasped audibly and began to sob and pray as Mr Steenkamp told Judge Thokozile Masipa that he wanted to see his daughter’s killer back behind bars.
“Not the maximum sentence,” he told her, “but Oscar has to pay for what he did.”
Steenkamp revealed that he and his wife did not know about Reeva’s relationship with the sprinter until before her death.
Answering questions from prosecutor Gerrie Nel, Mr Steenkamp wept as he re-lived the terrible morning he heard his daughter had died.
“I got a phone call from June and I couldn’t really understand what she was so upset about, screaming and shouting. She said 'come home immediately, just come home.’ On my way home, I tried to fathom what she had tried to tell me….that’s when I started to panic,” he said, his voice barely audible between sobs, “the more I drove the more I realised that Reeva had been killed.”
The packed court was hushed for the dramatic evidence. Members of Pistorius’ family who have turned out in force for the crucial hearing watched him with concern as he appeared to weep in the dock.
Mr Steenkamp described how he speaks to Reeva, a law graduate, constantly and still finds the pain of losing her unbearable. “Our lives have changed completely,” he said.
“I talk to her every day. You know, people say be patient, two years three years and you start feeling a bit better about the whole thing, but every day of my life is the same.
“Ever since Reeva’s death, I wouldn’t say I’ve become a recluse but I can’t really mix with people any more. And I sit on that veranda two o’clock in the morning which has become a habit and I smoke my cigarettes.
“It is very difficult to explain when you take about the incident. I don’t wish that on any human being. It devastated us. I ended up having a stroke and so many things since then and I just don’t wish that on anyone in this whole world,” he said, his large body shaking with emotion and grief.
During the lunch break, Pistorius was seen looking through paperwork with his lawyers, fuelling speculation that he has a prepared statement to read out in court.
The next witness to give testimony is prison nurse Charlotte Mashabane.
The employee had numerous confrontations with the sprinter during his time in prison.
On one occasion he banged a table in front of her.
Mashabane said she was on her morning rounds when the sprinter turned on her.
She told the court that he screamed at her: "He said, get out, get out, I am still sleeping."
The nurse also said that Pistorius demanded to see his own private doctor.
The witness is also expected to debunk Pistorius's claims that he was assaulted and raped in prison.
Pistorius served just under a year in jail for manslaughter before being allowed to serve rest of his sentence under house arrest.
In December 2015, the Blade Runner’s sentence was upgraded to murder after the original trial judge was wrong on several points of law.
Pistorius’s lawyers are trying to argue that the runner should not spend any more time behind bars.
Earlier this morning, an Icelandic celebrity chef spoke on behalf of Oscar Pistorius, telling the court how the murderer had given one of his Paralympic gold medals to her disabled son.
Ebba Guðmundsdóttir flew thousands of miles to defend her famous friend, who formed a “lovely friendship” with her 11-year-old son, who was born with the same condition as Pistorius.
The shamed sprinter is currently in the High Court in Pretoria to decide his jail sentence for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Guðmundsdóttir told the court how she had contacted the Blade Runner when she knew that her son would have the same condition as him.
She thanked the sprinter for being an inspiration to disabled people.
Pistorius, then 19, replied to the chef immediately, giving the woman his private number and an offer of support.
She said: “He said it would be his pleasure to help us in any way and gave us his private number an email.”
She told the court how Pistorius would visit the family in Iceland regularly as his custom built running blades were made in the country.
Guðmundsdóttir said: “There were many visits to Iceland that he made because of the blades and we always met and we had a lovely friendship.
“What was really nice was that my daughter is three years older than my son and it can be hard to have a disabled sibling who gets all the attention, but Oscar always asked about her, talked to her and made sure she was never left out. He was really kind to her, which made me very happy.”
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Her son was presented with one of Pistorius’s gold medals when the family travelled to Manchester to watch the sprinter perform.
Pistorius’s legal team are trying to convince the court that the famous sprinter should be spared jail.
Yesterday, Judge Thokozile Masipa heard that Pistorius would devote himself “to enhancing the lives of others” if he was allowed to walk free.
According to his psychologist, the athlete had a “firm job offer” from uncle Arnold Pistorius to work with under-privileged children.
Pistorius was originally acquitted of murder and found guilty of manslaughter instead by Judge Masipa, whose application of the law was later criticised by more senior judges.
The paralympian served just less than a year of his seven year sentence before being allowed to return to his uncle’s comfortable mansion to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
A successful appeal by the state saw the conviction upgraded to murder in December and it is for this more serious crime that Pistorius now faces a lengthy return to jail.
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