Pistorius family back him ‘every step of the way’

In a television interview broadcast last night, June Steenkamp said “there is only one person who knows what happened” that night in February when her “terrified” daughter Reeva was killed. The interview with Mrs Steenkamp and her husband Barry comes as Pistorius – who is expected to stand trial later this year – is due to appear in court today in Pretoria.

Arnold Pistorius, the uncle of the man dubbed the Blade Runner, said the family “fully stand behind” him and said they were “shaken” by the pictures of the star’s bloody bathroom that emerged last week.

He said: “We believe in him, love him and will support him every step of the way in what lies ahead. We were shaken by the graphic images, leaked into the public domain this week, of the accident scene at Oscar’s house.

“It has always been our plea that the legal process be allowed its run its course with integrity. The leaking of evidential material into the public domain, before the court case, does not advance this process.

“We continue to have great faith in the South African legal justice system and believe that Oscar’s account of what happened on that terrible night in February will be borne out by the evidence that the defence team will lead in court.”

The 26-year-old double amputee and six-time Paralympic sprint champion has been charged with premeditated murder, but claims he shot 29-year-old Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder. Pistorius is on bail after a judge changed his conditions in March, allowing him to travel abroad.

In the Channel 5 interview, Mrs Steenkamp spoke of her desperation to know why the shooting took place, and discussed the guilt she and her husband feel about not having “protected” their daughter.

“Why? Why did he shoot her? I want to know why he shot her. Because she must have been so afraid in the toilet, and somebody’s firing (a) gun, bullets through the door,” she said.

“And how terrified and already one bullet had hit her so she must have been in severe pain also, and I just feel why couldn’t I have warned her, or known something about this person – that they could be capable of doing something like that.

“Because he shot her till she was dead. Shot her till she was dead and I want to know what happened. Why? We feel bad that we couldn’t protect her. Her whole life we protected her. From the day she was born we protected her, but this we could not protect her from. Why couldn’t we protect her from this?

“How did she end up with a person like this? Who could shoot her? I want to know. We don’t know what happened. There is only one person who knows what happened,” she told Channel 5.

Ms Steenkamp’s parents say their daughter told them of her arguments with Pistorius and how they had feared for her safety.

Recalling a phone call from her daughter who was travelling in a car that Pistorius was driving at speed, Mrs Steenkamp says: “She was afraid, she was so afraid. She phoned me and she said: ‘Mummy I’m in the car with Oscar and he’s driving like a lunatic’.”

Mrs Steenkamp added: “A week or so later she phoned me, we chatted about this and that, little girl things. I said ‘How’s it going with Oscar?’ She said that ‘We’ve been fighting; we’ve been fighting a lot’. I didn’t feel alarmed about that because men and women do fight don’t they, it’s part of a relationship but this is a very early relationship to be fighting.”

The documentary showed the scene as friends and family came together to scatter her ashes in the waters of Nelson Mandela Bay.

Her father said: “Her grandfather’s ashes were spread out into the sea and I think we all think that a wonderful place to spread your ashes would be the sea because it would go, be all over the place.”