Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius — © AP
Eight years after he shot and killed his then-girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, ex-top athlete Oscar Pistorius is eligible for parole. But before the South African can be released, he has to look two people in the eye: her parents. Though they don’t seem particularly keen on meeting “the man who never showed enough respect for Reeva’s memory to admit that he killed her in cold blood”.
jvhSource: news.com.au
Oscar Pistorius became world famous as the ‘Blade Runner’, building a career as a top athlete despite his double leg amputation as a child and with the help of futuristic prosthetics. But on February 14, 2013, that image collapsed in one fell swoop: the then 26-year-old Pistorius fired four bullets through the toilet door at his new girlfriend, the 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp, who did not survive the incident.
Pistorius claimed during his hotly-mediated trial that he thought he was shooting at a burglar, but the man was nevertheless convicted of manslaughter. He was initially sentenced to six years in prison, but that was later increased to 13 years.
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However, after eight years, the now 34-year-old Pistorius is eligible for early release. However, a requirement is that he first has a conversation with the parents of his victim. “In it, the perpetrator must acknowledge and take responsibility for his actions, and apologize and give an opportunity for reconciliation,” the South African Prison Service said.
Although Barry and June Steenkamp do not seem particularly interested in such a meeting: according to the couple’s lawyer, they were not aware of the imminent release of Pistorius. “They were in shock when they were contacted by the prison system for an interview,” said Tania Koen. That appointment was therefore postponed until further notice.
June and Barry Steenkamp — © AP
“Total lack of remorse”
However, the Steenkamps seemed to be open to reconciliation in the past. “June has always said that she had forgiven Oscar, but that he had to pay for what he had done,” said Koen. That attitude has changed over the years: in a BBC documentary she stated that she did not understand that “her pain was aggravated by Pistorius’s total lack of remorse”, whom she described as “a man who, despite his public tearful display never showed enough respect for my daughter’s memory at trial to admit that he killed her in cold blood.” June also let it be understood that she had “nothing to say to Pistorius until he is willing to be honest”.
“Barry also has trouble with it”, says Koen, “but he will have to show that at the appropriate time. The wound is still raw even after all this time.” Father Steenkamp already showed in an interview from 2014 that he was struggling with unprocessed feelings about the death of his daughter. “If I had known then what I know now, I would have intervened and convinced my daughter to end their relationship. Reeva wouldn’t have appreciated that, but she would have thanked me in the end.”
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