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REEVA STEENKAMP’S DEVATSATED parents remain adamant Oscar Pistorius deliberately killed their daughter, telling Australian television their life has been ruined and they are not ready to talk to the Paralympian.
The 28-year-old athlete was due to be released last week after serving only 10 months in prison for killing his girlfriend, but in a surprise decision Justice Minister Michael Masutha suspended the move.
Pistorius was convicted in October last year of culpable homicide — a charge equivalent to manslaughter — over the killing of Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
Prosecutors have appealed, seeking a murder conviction instead.
“How can 10 months be enough? He killed her. He admits he killed her. She’s dead. Why didn’t he just let her walk away? Why?” her mother June Steenkamp said in an interview with Australia’s Channel Seven, broadcast Sunday evening.
“Only Oscar will know for the rest of his life what really happened and would you like to live with it? Would I? Never, ever.”
Masutha said a parole board decision taken in June to free Pistorius and allow him to serve out the rest of his five-year sentence under house arrest was “premature” and suspended it pending review.
“We will leave it to the justice system,” Reeva’s father Barry Steenkamp told the broadcaster. “It’s not finished, not finished by a long way.
“If the outcome is there’s going to be a longer sentence, are we going to feel better? I don’t know.”
The athlete admitted during a nine-week trial watched around the world that he killed Steenkamp by shooting her through a locked bathroom door, but claimed he mistook her for an intruder.
Her father is convinced they had a fight and Pistorius killed her in a fit of rage.
“He got angry, she went off to the toilet, locked herself inside, and then him pulling out the gun and shooting,” he said.
“When he realised that had happened, then he couldn’t stop and he had to carry on until it was finished.”
The athlete — known as the ‘Blade Runner’ for the prosthetic legs he wears on the track — won international fame after racing against able-bodied competitors in the 2012 London Olympics, making him a poster boy for sport.
He has expressed remorse for Steenkamp’s death and her parents said he had tried to make contact with them since his conviction, but they were not ready.
“I would say, ‘All I want you to realise is that you have ruined our lives. You have taken her life, her possible marriage or having a baby. Our grandchild. And you have ruined our lives.’ I just want to say that,” June Steenkamp said.
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No way are these inmates afraid to talk to inspectors, they are experts at manipulation and complaining, and the “prison watchdog” will run with it to justify its existence and big salaries.
@Raymond Barry: experts at complaining? Sure they’re only trotting after you.
It appears to me that to say that a black prisoner is a ‘raisin in a bowl of rice’ is not racist, not even a micro aggression, just a rather poetic way of referring to a difference in a prison where no more than 8% of prisoners were from ethnic minorities. But, as my mother taught me, ‘It is easy to sleep on another man’s wound’.
@Patrick Brompton: nah, it’s racist.
@Mac Muinteoir: It is absolutely not racist!! Get a grip!
What a load of b…Ollix.
Prison officers.. the highest paid unskilled (sorry 6 weeks training doesn’t qualify as skilled workforce) in the country ..
@Paul Doyle: you do it so
@Paul Doyle: If it’s so easy Paul to get the highest salary with no input then tell me why you didn’t jump feet first to secure this lucrative job or maybe the fact it takes three years including work placements, probationary period and obtaining a higher certificate in custodial care and practice might have put you off, not to mention that thousands apply for these positions when recruitment commences and not all are suitable or have the professionalism , tolerance or maturity to deal with society’s most offensive individuals. Frankly I don’t think they are paid well enough for what they do, at least at some stage the prisoners get out while the officers do life to the point of retirement.
@Honeybee: thousands apply for exactly the reasons I mentioned above
@Paul Doyle: there all guarda rejects and messed up army recruits
@Paul Doyle: lol nonsense.
A 3rd level qualification in Custodial Care is now required, along with Control & Restraint training & 3yrs training as a Recruit Prison Officer before they become Prison Officers.
Speaking about a job you clearly understand nothing about, would seem a little ignorant & uneducated to me Paul. A very tough job dealing with some very dangerous & violent individuals, keeping you safe.
@Ellie Mae: shameful insult to my husband who is neither thanks very much – seems you’re actually a school reject Ellie Mae – it’s Guard or Garda
@Ellie Mae: they’re,not there,Garda,not Guarda……….sounds like someone failed to get past the written exam,the procedure for recruitment is a very thorough process ,the IPS don’t go out and trawl the streets looking for candidates,they have a very deep pool to choose from,now run along and get the last of your Christmas presents and keep your sarky comments to yourself.
@Paul Doyle: you need to know the job before you comment on how un skilled it is.
I suggest you should apply for the job to get you off the armchair and then come back and inform the public how un skilled it is.
@Pádraig O’Faolain: I’m sure he’d be the best warden in the world,he just can’t get past the first part of the exam…..Q1.Name.
Excessive political correctness, just like Papal infallibly is a curse, not a blessing.
Wouldn’t have happened with Gypsy Joe in charge
@Robert O’Neill: leave that poor man alone he was my hero
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