We want answers, says Reeva’s mother
June Steenkamp was quoted by the Times newspaper in South Africa in a front page interview asking: “Why my little girl? … Why did he do this?”
She says of late daughter Reeva, a model, law graduate and Pistorius’s girlfriend, “she loved like no one else could love” and “just like that, she is gone.”
Double-amputee athlete Pistorius, an icon in South Africa and a star of last year’s Olympics, remains in custody in a Pretoria police station charged with Steenkamp’s murder after she was shot multiple times inside his home.
He has reportedly been tested for steroids after the banned drug was found at the home.
He will reappear in court today as Steenkamp’s private funeral in her hometown takes place.
The former cover girl, 29, will be cremated in her home town of Port Elizabeth, in a private ceremony for family and friends.
Pistorius, 26, who became a sporting hero to millions when he competed at the Olympics last year, has been charged with killing Steenkamp and will appear in a Pretoria court today for a bail hearing.
Steenkamp’s mother described her death as “horrendous.”
“Why my little girl? Why did this happen? Why did he do this?” June Steenkamp told the Times of South Africa. “What for?”
“She had so much of herself to give and now all that is gone. Just like that, she is gone… In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here.”
“All we have is this horrendous death to deal with... to get to grips with. All we want are answers… answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this.”
More than 100 people are expected to attend an hour-long memorial service for Steenkamp, a law graduate who had been going out with Pistorius since late last year.
Well-wishers had already begun placing bouquets of flowers outside the family home.
Her uncle Mike Steenkamp said the family had been overwhelmed with offers of help and sympathy.
“We have received a lot of condolences from all over South Africa and around the world as well. We have received a lot of support.”
Police says Steenkamp was shot four times in the early hours of last Thursday by a pistol owned by Pistorius and died of her wounds at the scene.
His family has insisted that the evidence will refute “any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all”.
Defence lawyers are expected to argue today that there are “exceptional circumstances” for Pistorius to be granted bail, a request that will be opposed by the state.
That request means the hearing is likely to offer more details about what happened in the early hours of Valentine’s Day at Pistorius’s upmarket home in a gated estate in the South African capital.
Pistorius, who broke down sobbing in his first court appearance on Friday, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public relations experts for his defence.
Stuart Higgins, a former editor of The Sun, whose lengthy list of clients includes British Airways, Chelsea FC and Manchester United, will be handling public relations in the case.
One of the lawyers, Kenny Oldwage, acted for the driver in a 2010 accident that killed former president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela’s great-grandchild Zenani. The driver was acquitted.
The events of Feb 14 have put Pistorius’s career on hold, forcing him to cancel races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May.
Meanwhile, it has emerged Pistorius nearly shot a friend at an upmarket restaurant recently when the pistol he was looking at accidentally went off.
The incident occurred less than a month ago.
Pistorius was looking at a friend’s gun at a restaurant in Johannesburg when the firearm discharged accidentally, Kevin Lerena told the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper.
“I had quite a fright, because the bullet hit the ground centimetres from my foot,” said Lerena, a professional boxer, who described the incident as “a freak accident.”
“For some reason it got caught on his trousers, flipped the safety pin and a shot went off. I wouldn’t say he was negligent. Days afterwards he was still apologising.”
“The revolver belonged to one of his friends… he wanted to have a look at it.”
The restaurant manager heard a loud bang, but Pistorius and his friends denied anything had happened, he told the newspaper.
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