‘He must pay’: Reeva’s parents issue brutal reply to Pistorius request
Reeva Steenkamp’s parents have spoken publicly about Oscar Pistorius’ bid for parole as he serves time for murdering his girlfriend.
The parents of Reeva Steenkamp have voiced their anger over Oscar Pistorius’ bid for parole, demanding he tell them the truth about what happened with their daughter and serve the full length of his prison sentence.
The South African Paralympic champion shot dead his model girlfriend in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013 when he fired four times through the door of the toilet next to his bedroom.
Pistorius was found guilty of manslaughter in 2014 and sentenced to six years in jail, but the conviction was later upgraded to murder, with a 13-year and five-month prison term.
By July this year the 34-year-old had served half the term, the minimum period to be considered for parole, according to the victim’s family lawyer.
However, June and Barry Steenkamp don’t want to see Pistorius go free.
“He’s shown no remorse and he would only show remorse I think if it contributes to his getting out of jail,” June said in an interview with English breakfast TV show, Good Morning Britain.
“We haven’t had the full story. I don’t believe that it’s the truth, he changed his mind three times under oath to a different story and we don’t believe that’s the truth of the story.
“That’s what we want, the truth. This has been a horror story for us.”
June added: “He must serve whatever his full time, in my eyes, he still must pay for what he’s done. And that’s what we’re expecting.
“Sorry is not enough in any case. It’s not enough for losing her life, her future was ahead of her. Now she has no wedding, we have no grandchildren and she never would have her wedding dress.
“She had nothing. He took everything away from her and us and that is something that is important to me, the things that she would never have had.
“I forgave him through God because I believe in God. I’m a Christian and I had to. God was asked to forgive him, but it doesn’t mean that he hasn’t got to pay for what he’s done. He showed no remorse, and we don’t believe the story.
“We don’t believe the story that he gave. We don’t know how it came to that. We want the truth.”
Before the parole process can begin, the Correctional Services department needs to facilitate a dialogue between the victim’s family and the offender.
Steenkamp’s parents want a face-to-face meeting with Pistorius before he is considered for early release from prison, as is their right under South Africa’s victim-offender dialogue policy, which is designed to help the victims of crimes — and their families — find closure.
Reports suggested Reeva’s parents were “distraught” by Pistorius’ parole bid and Barry said he and his wife were “dumbfounded” when they received a letter from the runner as part of the process.
“I think the letter was sent to us to do with the parole that is coming up and yes, it’s only June and I and our lawyer that has seen what has been written in it and we’ve kept quiet and we don’t want to push it out to anybody as to what was said,” Barry told Good Morning Britain.
“We might let people know at a later stage but not now, what was written by Oscar.
“One day I would like to talk to Oscar, man to man. I’d like to talk to him, June and myself we feel there are still a lot of things to come out of this story and we’re hoping that Oscar will tell us the truth, and that’s the reason why I’m the one who would like to speak to Oscar.
“I would like to have a chat to him one day and we’ll see how it goes from there.”
Pistorius last year broke his silence from prison to ask for forgiveness from the Steenkamp family. His former teacher Bill Schroder said Pistorius wanted forgiveness more than a release from prison and said the double-amputee sprinter “feared” being paroled because of the outcry that would follow.
The year before he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius became the first double-amputee to race at the Olympics when he took part In the London 2012 Games. He competed on prosthetic blades — a feat that had earned him the nickname Blade Runner.
Pistorius became a role model for disabled people worldwide until his televised murder trial, which fixated South Africans and generated international headlines.
He has always maintained that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he fired four high-calibre bullets through a locked toilet cubicle.
With AFP