Pistorius must pay for his crime, father of slain model tells court

PRETORIA, Tuesday

Barry Steenkamp, the father of Reeva, the model shot dead by Oscar Pistorius on Valentine’s Day in 2013, wants the former athlete to pay for his crime.

Mr Steenkamp sobbed as he testified for the first time in court since the death of his daughter during the second day of sentencing hearings at the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.

“It has been very difficult for me to forgive... I feel that Oscar has to pay for what he did. He has to pay for his crime,” Barry Steenkamp, 73, said shaking with emotion and in tears. “She must have been in so much fear and pain,” he said, reliving the horror of learning how she was killed. “It must have been absolutely awful.”

He also said that he believed the couple had argued on the night of the murder—disputing Pistorius’s claims.

He said while his wife, who is a Christian, had forgiven the former Paralympian, this did not mean he can get away with what he did.

Pistorius faces a minimum 15 year sentence after the initial culpable homicide conviction was thrown aside and replaced with murder by the Supreme Court in April.

The original trial Judge Thokozile Masipa is set to hand down a new sentence on Friday.

Mr Steenkamp said unlike his wife, he had found it difficult to forgive the accused.

“She has forgiven him but it doesn’t mean he’s being exonerated for the crime. It’s been very difficult to forgive but I feel the same way. Oscar has to pay for what he did. It’s up to the courts and we will go by the decision that the courts hand down to Oscar. He has to pay,” said an emotional Mr Steenkamp.

Mr Steenkamp wants the whole world to see images showing the wounds inflicted on his daughter during the shooting.

“A lot of people will disagree with me and think that I’m callous. But what I would like the world to see are the wounds inflicted on Reeva and the pain she must have gone through,” he said.

Earlier, Pistorius was described as a caring person who was willing to assist a young disabled child who lived thousands of miles away from him.

The defence’s second witness, Mrs Ebba Gudmunsdottir, spoke about the Paralympian champion’s interest in helping children.

Mrs Gudmunsdottir , who travelled from Iceland, spoke of how her own child was born without legs.

Having Googled Pistorius and seeing his achievements as a disabled person, the family wrote to him to thank him. A friendship formed between the
Gudmunsdottir family and the then 19-year-old Pistorius who travelled to Iceland to visit them.

She said that the former athlete visited on multiple occasions to assist the family with the child’s disability.

Pistorius’s pastor Marius Nel, was also called to the stand and confirmed to the court that Pistorius was indeed a member of his church.

He said the athlete had shown interest in being involved in the church’s charity work.

Pastor Nel said that he had spoken with various schools about accepting Pistorius as an athletics trainer and speaker.