Throughout the former paralympian runner’s sobbing and tearful testimony, June, who along with her husband has waited 15 months to hear some kind of apology from the man who shot dead her daughter, remained stony faced and implacable.
It was the face of a woman who has already run her own emotional race and is now waiting for this gruelling ordeal to be over.
Reeva’s mother June Steenkamp was stony-faced throughout Pistorius’ testimony.
Reeva’s mother June Steenkamp was stony-faced throughout Pistorius’ testimony.
She has already lost so much. Her daughter Reeva, a model and the so-called Bladerunner’s girlfriend, was shot four times by Pistorius, who claims he thought she was an intruder, through the bathroom door of his Pretoria home on Valentine’s Day last year. June’s husband Barry, a horse trainer, suffered a series of strokes after Reeva’s death.
June has previously spoken of her reasons for attending the trial. She told a television interviewer at the beginning of proceedings: “The whole point was that he must see me there. I’m her mother and what happened to her was terrible. I wanted him to see me there – that I’m there representing Reeva.”
Recalling the first time she set eyes on Pistorius in the court room, she said: “I wanted to see him and for him to see me. I just felt that I had to do that. But he didn’t look at me or anything. He just walked straight and looked ahead.”
Pistorius’ performance in the witness stand yesterday was greeted poorly by many commentators who saw it as self-serving. “Oscar Pistorius is a pathetic, snivelling coward,” wrote Miranda Devine in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. “Boo hoo, he can’t sleep. Well, his girlfriend can’t wake up.”
Arnold and Lois Pistorius cried throughout their son’s testimony.
Arnold and Lois Pistorius cried throughout their son’s testimony.
Yesterday was the first time Pistorius has taken the stand but it will be far from his last. He will now face intense questioning from a prosecution intent on examining every detail of his version of events, interrogations that may last weeks.
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