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| 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. |
JOHANNESBURG
(AP) -- The family of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend wants answers,
her mother told a Johannesburg newspaper, as South Africans braced to
hear why prosecutors believe a national hero murdered the model who was
shot multiple times.
June Steenkamp, Reeva
Steenkamp's mother, told The Times in a front page interview published
Monday: "Why? Why my little girl? Why did this happen? Why did he do
this?"
"Just like that she is gone," the
newspaper quoted her as saying in what it described as an emotional
telephone interview. "In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the
most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here."
Pistorius,
who remains in custody in a red-brick, one-story police station in
Pretoria, is set to return to court Tuesday for the start of his bail
hearing. It will be the first opportunity for the prosecution to
describe evidence police gathered against the 26-year-old double-amputee
runner and the reasons why he was charged with murder. Prosecutors
allege the killing was premeditated.
Pistorius'
family denies he committed murder though they have not addressed
whether he shot her. When word first emerged about the killing there was
speculation in the local media that Steenkamp had been mistaken for an
intruder in Pistorius' home. Police have said that was not something
they were considering.
In an email to The
Associated Press on Monday, Pistorius' longtime track coach - who was
yet to comment - said he believes the killing was an accident.
"I
pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation
following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my
boy back on the track," Ampie Louw wrote in his statement. "I am still
in shock following the heart-breaking events that occurred last week and
my thoughts and prayers are with both of the families involved."
Pistorius'
top sponsor, Nike, said in a brief statement to the AP on Monday that
it "has no plans for Oscar Pistorius in upcoming campaigns." They
declined to give any further information.
While
Pistorius goes to court, Steenkamp's funeral will also be held Tuesday
in her hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast, her
family said. It is to be a private ceremony at a local crematorium,
closed to the public and media.
"We're just
taking things one day at a time," Reeva Steenkamp's brother Adam
Steenkamp said outside the family home. "But at the moment it's family
coming together and the one person who would be the strongest, who held
us all together, is unfortunately not here anymore - and that's my
sister."
A 29-year-old blonde model, law
graduate and reality TV contestant, Reeva Steenkamp died last week of
multiple gunshot wounds inside Pistorius' upscale house in a gated
community in the eastern suburbs of the capital, Pretoria.
Police
said they arrived in the predawn hours of Thursday - Valentine's Day -
to find paramedics trying to revive Steenkamp and said that she had been
shot four times. A 9 mm pistol was recovered from the scene. Pistorius
was arrested and charged with murder the same day.
Prosecutors
said in Pistorius' first court appearance Friday that they would pursue
a more serious premeditated murder charge against the Olympian and
world's most high-profile disabled athlete.
In
a statement initially given only to the AP and two South African
reporters over the weekend, Arnold Pistorius, Oscar's uncle, said the
prosecution's own case would show there was no murder.
"We
have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation," he said, "and
that the state's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly
refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder
at all."
The bail hearing, scheduled for
Tuesday and Wednesday, will be the first time both the prosecutors and
defense will show their hands about the evidence involved in the
killing, said Stephen Tuson, an adjunct law professor at the University
of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
"There
will kind of be a little trial within a trial," Tuson said of the start
of a court case that will likely grip South Africa and much of the world
- possibly for years.
Due to the gravity of
the charges, Pistorius' defense lawyers will present their case first,
trying to argue that their client is not a danger to the public and
won't try to flee to avoid trial, Tuson said. They'll also have to show
that he won't try to intimidate witnesses, nor pose a risk of sparking
public unrest, the professor said.
The defense
does have the opportunity to put Pistorius - who broke down and wept in
his first appearance in court - on the stand to offer testimony on his
own behalf. That likely won't happen, as prosecutors would then be
allowed to ask him potentially incriminating questions, Tuson said.
Typically, defense lawyers read a prepared statement in court instead.
From
there, prosecutors will offer their own version of events, likely
bolstered by testimony from the lead investigator in the killing, Tuson
said.
Pistorius has been in custody in
Brooklyn police station in Pretoria since Friday. His agent told the AP
that there is no way to predict if he will ever run track again.
"For
me it's too early to comment," Peet Van Zyl said. "I think it's still a
huge shock and tragedy that took the world by surprise so I can't
comment on that one (Pistorius' future career) or give any timeline to
that at this point in time."
Coach Louw, who
is significant for convincing Pistorius to take up track a decade ago
and starting him on his journey to worldwide fame, said he had been
around Pistorius and Steenkamp, and she often accompanied the athlete to
training.
"I found her to be delightful, very
friendly ... and I found the two of them to be very happy in each
other's company," Louw said.
