The mother of Reeva Steenkamp has said she does not care whether Oscar Pistorius is jailed for shooting the model, as nothing will bring her daughter back.
June Steenkamp has admitted she cannot take her eyes from her daughter’s killer in the courtroom as she spoke of her daily emotional turmoil listening to the final moments of Reeva’s life being put under the spotlight in a South African court.
The Paralympic superstar has frequently wept and been sick during the more difficult moments of his trial.
June Steenkamp (left) has said she does not care whether Oscar Pistorius is jailed for shooting her daughter Reeva Steenkamp (right) as it will not bring her back.
Mrs Steenkamp has said she watches his every move, wondering if his grief is real.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror’s Lucy Thornton and Sharon Feinstein she said she does not care whether he is freed or jailed for murder, as neither outcome will bring her daughter back.
Yesterday Pistorius, 27, became distraught after the prosecutor demanded that he look at a photo of his dead girlfriend’s bloody head wounds while giving evidence at his trial in Pretoria.
Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel said it was time for the athlete to ‘take responsibility’ for killing Miss Steenkamp, 29, who died after being shot by Pistorius in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year.
Mrs Steenkamp told the Mirror: ‘I look at Oscar the whole time, to see how he is coping, how he is behaving. I’m obsessed with looking at him, it’s just instinctive, I can’t explain it.
Pistorius has frequently wept and been sick during the more difficult moments of his trial.
‘I keep thinking, “let’s see how he’s taking this”. He has been very dramatic, the vomiting and crying.’
She added: ‘I think he’s just about keeping himself together. I don’t know whether he’s acting. Most of the time he’s on his cell phone or looking down at papers or writing notes.’
Mrs Steenkamp, who had never previously met Pistorius, told the Mirror she doesn’t care if he is cleared or sent to prison as it won’t bring back her daughter, but says ‘he has to stand up to what he’s done and – if he has to – pay for it.’
June Steenkamp listens to Oscar Pistorius give evidence during his trial at the high court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Mrs Steenkamp previously criticised Pistorius for failing to acknowledge her on the first day of the trial, but said she didn’t answer when he eventually spoke to her, other than to nod.
Pistorius will face further difficult questions today as his cross-examination continues.
The athlete says he shot Miss Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was a dangerous intruder behind the door in his bathroom about to come out and attack him.
Prosecutors say he killed her intentionally, and Pistorius faces a possible prison term of 25 years to life if convicted of premeditated murder.
Pistorius was today accused by Mr Nel of egotistical behaviour in his relationship with Miss Steenkamp before he killed her.
South African paralympic athlete and murder-accused Oscar Pistorius arrives at the high court in Pretoria prior to a hearing of his trial on Thursday.
On the second day of cross-examination Mr Nel also described Pistorius’s courtroom apology to his girlfriend’s family as an insincere ‘spectacle’ that ignored the feelings of her relatives. ‘Your life is just about you,’ the prosecutor said.
Mr Nel’s questioning in the court in the South African city of Pretoria was designed to counter earlier evidence in which Pistorius said he loved Miss Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, and was trying to protect her when he shot her without realising she was in the toilet.
Two contrasting images of the double-amputee runner have emerged in court: the defence-led image of Pistorius as a contrite man who had been worried about crime and made a terrible mistake on the night he killed Miss Steenkamp, and the prosecution’s depiction of him as an overbearing egotist who was obsessed with guns.
Mr Nel said he had checked all Miss Steenkamp’s text messages on her mobile phone and the phrase ‘I love you’ appeared only twice. On both occasions, he said, they were written by Miss Steenkamp to her mother.
‘Never to you and you never to her,’ Mr Nel said, addressing Pistorius.
