“She must have been in such pain and fear. I think about it all the time. I visualise that. I can see it myself.”
This was the heartrending evidence of Barry Steenkamp, father of
murdered Reeva Steenkamp, the first witness to testify in the high court
in Pretoria on Tuesday on behalf of the State in the re-sentencing
proceedings of Oscar Pistorius.
The disgraced former athlete sat with his hands covering his ears,
shaking as he cried, while listening to the emotional evidence of the
73-year-old man.
People cried openly in the public gallery, including Reeva’s best
friend Gina Myers, while her mother June Steenkamp looked worriedly at
her husband who was trembling with emotion.
Steenkamp said his doctor previously advised him against travelling
to Pretoria to take the stand during the first round of sentencing. “But
I must now give evidence. I think of Reeva every day of my life,
morning, noon and night.”
A tearful Steenkamp said their house was filled with pictures of Reeva, the only child he and June had together.
“I talk to her every day. I spend most of my time on the veranda. At
2am or 3am I would sit there, looking at my phone. I virtually every day
get messages of support on Facebook and pictures. I have a few hundred
messages and pictures (of Reeva) which I look at every day. I don’t wish
this on any human being; on anyone in this whole world. It devastated
us. I ended up having a stroke.
“We were so proud of her. She helped herself through university and
finished her studies with distinctions.” Reeva had then relocated to
Gauteng to further her modelling career and aimed one day to open her
own business and take care of her parents.
Steenkamp said the day of her murder changed everything. He was out
training racehorses when his wife phoned and told him to return home
immediately. At first he thought one of their animals had been killed,
but he realised June mentioned Reeva’s name and knew she was dead.
Asked about his understanding of what happened in the early hours of
Valentine’s Day 2013 when Pistorius fired four shots into the bathroom
door behind which Reeva was, he said: “I think there was an argument.”
At that point, Pistorius was sitting in the dock with his ears
covered, while soft sobs could be heard in the silent court from the
public gallery. Steenkamp spoke of the pain and fear he imagined his
daughter felt at the time.
Shaking and crying, the father demonstrated how he tried to pierce
himself with his diabetes needles and hit his hands against walls in a
bid to try and feel the pain she must have felt.
Steenkamp said he only saw one picture - in court - of Reeva’s
wounds. “I saw only one, but I can imagine what it was like. I want the
world to see the wounds inflicted on her; the pain she must have gone
through. I want this to stop others in future.”
Christmases and birthdays were especially difficult for the family. There was always a seat at the table reserved for Reeva.
Steenkamp told the court the family had not contacted Pistorius,
before or after the killing. Reeva also never told them about the
relationship.
Pistorius, through his lawyers, tried to contact the family after the
murder and he even wrote letters, but the Steenkamps were not ready to
meet him. He said he was disgusted when details of financial assistance
by Pistorius emerged during the trial, as he had been told it was
confidential. Pistorius, through his lawyers, arranged to pay a small
monthly amount to Reeva’s parents, but when he offered them R360 000,
the family declined it.
Steenkamp said he has heard his wife June cry every night, calling Reeva’s name.
Pistorius’s counsel Barry Roux hardly had any questions for the
grieved father. “We are very, very sorry. We can never bring her back.”
He said his client tried to apologise personally but the Steenkamps would not meet with him.
“June has forgiven him, but it does not mean he is exonerated. It has
been very difficult for me to forgive. I feel he has to pay for what he
did. The time will come when I will want to talk to Oscar, but the time
is not now,” Steenkamp responded.
The court also heard the testimony of nursing sister Charlotte
Mashabane, who said she was in charge of Pistorius’s treatment for the
first six months of his stay in the hospital section of the Kgosi
Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria.
She said Pistorius did not want the prison “rub-rub” for his sore hand, but the Voltaren his family had brought him.
He was also upset when a nurse woke him up early one day while he was still sleeping in his prison bed.
Pistorius threw tantrums on both occasions, as well as when prison
officials dragged their heels in arranging supplements for his weight
loss and sore legs.
Mashabane told the high court in Pretoria on Tuesday that the two of
them clashed so often that her superiors told her to hand his case over
to another official.
Called as the State’s second witness in aggravation of sentence,
Mashabane said Pistorius had an attitude. He threw tantrums and became
angry when things didn't go his way, although she simply tried to
explain to him there were rules and regulations which had to be adhered
to. She described three incidents during which she said he threw
tantrums.
Pistorius and Radovan Krejcir shared a wing in the hospital section’s
second floor and they were separated from the other inmates. There were
only two cells in this section, with the third used as a gym for the
pair.
The first tantrum, she said, was in January last year, soon after he
ended up in prison. He wanted his supplements and Mashabane said she
would send a memorandum in this regard to the officials.
“Oscar entered my office and wanted to know whether I had received
feedback. I said I was still waiting. He banged his notebook on my
table, while trembling with anger.”
On another occasion he had injured his hand and the prison issued him
with “rub-rub” (ointment). However, the athlete wanted his Voltaren and
threw the rub-rub back at the sister in an aggressive manner.
The third incident was when he chased her out of the room as he was
still sleeping when Mashabane did her ward rounds. “I said good morning.
But he pulled his sheet over his head and shouted that I must get out
because he was still sleeping.”
Roux said the sister was trying to badmouth his client and make out as if he was an aggressive person.
He said Pistorius simply wanted his medication and it must be borne
in mind that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
During a break in proceedings on Tuesday, Pistorius spoke to the ANC
Women’s League’s Jacqui Mofokeng. This was the first time since the
start of the trial two years ago he approached members of the league. As
he passed the bench where Mofokeng sat in the front row, Pistorius
stopped and exchanged a few words with her.
Mofokeng later told the Pretoria News he apologised for what he had done.
“He also said he knew that we, as women, had a responsibility towards
women. I said yes, because no one had the right to take anybody’s life.
“He asked that we also take responsibility for people with
disabilities. I responded that your disability does not make you run
away from facts, but that I wish you strength.”
Mofokeng said she shook his extended hand, but that did not change
anything for the women who felt he had to go and serve his time in jail.
“I was shocked. I have been here from the start and he feels like approaching me today,” she added.
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