Reeva Steenkamp's mother June offers her version of events of what happened the night Oscar Pistorius killed her daughter
June Steenkamp says she feels “let down” by the South African justice system
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Your support makes all the difference.Reeva Steenkamp’s mother has outlined her account on how and why Oscar Pistorius killed her daughter on Valentine's Day 2013.
The Paralympian maintained that he thought that his late girlfriend was an intruder in his house, firing through his locked bathroom door.
“Oscar's story I don't believe,” June Steenkamp wrote in her new book, Reeva: A Mother’s Story.
“Not one of his actions suggests he felt protective towards her. They had a fight, a horrible argument, and she fled to the bathroom with her mobile and locked the door.
“I think he may have shot once and then he had to go on and kill her because she would have been able to tell the world what really happened, what he is really like.”
She asserted that “there is no doubt in our minds” that her daughter had decided to leave Pistorius the night of her death.
“I believe their relationship was coming to an end,” she wrote. “In her heart of hearts she didn't think it was making either of them happy.”
Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide after fatally shooting Steenkamp. In October, he was sentenced to five years in prison, although legal experts predict that he could only serve 10 months behind bars and will spend the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
Following the sentencing, Steenkamp said that the family was satisfied with the court's decision and that trial’s result had provided her with some sort of “closure”.
She later added that she would never think the death of her daughter was a mistake and now claims that she “felt let down by the justice system”.
In an already-released extract from the book, June Steenkamp alleges that Pistorius’ was always destined to kill someone.
“It was Reeva's bad luck that she met him, because sooner or later he would have killed someone,” she asserted. “I do believe that.”
“In our worst imaginings, we picture how scared she must have been to retreat behind that door, and lock it, with no one to protect her. One bullet blew the brains out of her skull.”
She has previously said that she forgives Pistorius for his crime, although she cannot “forget”.
“I have forgiven him,” she commented. “I have to - that's my religion. But I can't forget what he has done. I hate what he has done to my child.”
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