Oscar Pistorius trial: Remembering Reeva Steenkamp

FOR more than a year the focus of the world’s highest profile crime case has been on Oscar Pistorius, but today is as much about remembering Reeva Steenkamp.

In this undated handout publicity photo supplied by Stimulii taken on the island of Jamaica, Reeva Steenkamp poses on set during the shooting of the reality show Tropika Island of Treasure which premieres on state television Saturday, Feb 16, 2013. South Africa's national broadcaster says it will screen the show featuring the dead model girlfriend of double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius, two days after she was shot and killed at Pistorius' home. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Stimulii) Picture: Ap

FOR more than a year the focus of the world’s highest profile crime case has been on one man: Oscar Pistorius.

But as we wait for his final fate to be decided it’s important to remember what’s really at stake — justice for Reeva Steenkamp.

In the early hours of Valentines Day 2013, Pistorius shot dead the 29-year-old model and aspiring lawyer.

MORE: Oscar Pistorius found not guilty of Reeva Steenkamp murder

MORE: Oscar Pistorius verdict cost Olympian millions

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp dated for three months. Picture: AFP / Lucky Nxumalo

Reeva had been dating the international sporting hero for three months, but friends said she should be remembered as so much more.

“She was not a pretty face or someone’s girlfriend, she was Reeva Steenkamp,” friends told Hello magazine.

“She was never in someone’s shadow. She was her own person. That should not be forgot not by anyone, not for anything.”

Reeva Steenkamp was a high profile model in South Africa. Picture: AP / Ice Model Management

Born in Cape Town and raised in Port Elizabeth, the South African beauty began her modelling career as the face of Avon.

She became a national celebrity, fronting modelling campaign, regular covering magazines and had launched a career as a television presenter. FHM twice ranked her among the world’s sexiest women.

She was due to star in a South African celebrity reality TV show called Tropika Island of Treasuer.

Photographer Nick Boulton started working with the young model at the beginning of her career a decade before her tragic death.

Having worked with her more than any other photographer, Boulton knew how talented she was in the field, but she had other passions a well.

Friends say the model was ‘destined for bigger things’. Picture: AFP / Ice Models

“Reeva was not like most models. She was not your typical model in any way. She was incredibly humble about her beauty,” he told The Independent.

“She was definitely going to go on to do much bigger things — and not just modelling. Her career was in its infancy.”

Only days before her death, the self-described “brainy, blonde, bombshell” lent her support to a campaign urging South Africans to wear black in honour of women raped and killed by their partners.

The day after she died, she was due to speak out about domestic abuse to a group of teenage girls.

In remembering Reeva friends and family have been quoted saying she was destined for bigger things.

Her university friend Kerry Smith revealed to BBC the pair had planned on using their law degrees to start a law firm to help abused women.

“She wanted to save everyone, wanted to protect everyone,” she said.

“She was more than just a pretty face, she had a beautiful heart and ambition.”

Reeva Steenkamp was an aspiring lawyer. Picture: AP

Her mother said she was ‘the most beautiful person who ever lived.

Another friend, Gina Myers, told of how passionate Reeva was about bringing attention to violence against women in the days leading up to her tragic violent death.

“A couple of days before she passed away, she was saying how people were so ignorant of the fact that (violence on women) is going around,” she told Reuters.

Reeva’s mother, June Steenkamp, has bravely fronted court awaiting a decision about the fate of the man who killed her daughter.

But like her friends, she doesn’t want Reeva’s memory to be forgotten.

“She had so much of herself to give and now all of it is gone,” she said.

“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.”

Pistorius has been acquitted of murder charges and now awaits a verdict on manslaughter.