The tragic case of Reeva Steenkamp
It was a day designed for romance.
Four bullets were fired through a bathroom door, killing the girlfriend of a Paralympian.
“His girlfriend was shot dead at his home… The well-known model has been shot in the head and body.”
Reeva Was Twenty-Nine
Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp was born on August 19th,1983, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Her mother, June, was the second wife of her father, Barry Steenkamp. Reeva had two older siblings.
The Steenkamp family then relocated to Port Elizabeth.
Reeva attended school in Port Elizabeth, then Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. She went on to graduate with a law degree.
On the other hand, Reeva loved modeling.
She started modeling at the age of fourteen. Reeva participated in various contests. And she became the cover girl of FHM magazine.
After university, Reeva worked as a paralegal while also modeling. Then Reeva moved to Johannesburg.
There, she worked as a TV presenter and on the red carpet circuit.
Reeva Met A Man
It was around that time that Reeva met Oscar Pistorius.
Oscar was a world-renowned para-athlete decorated with numerous Paralympic gold medals.
Oscar was born with a defect. He didn’t have the outside of both feet and fibulae. As a result, his legs were amputated when he was very young.
Nonetheless, Oscar didn’t let his birth defect get in his way. He participated in sports like rugby, tennis, and running.
Oscar went on to participate in many Paralympics, where he brought back gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Oscar also became the first double-leg amputee to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Then Oscar and Reeva met. The two fell in love.
The Valentines Murder
The date was February 14th, 2013.
Emergency services were called to a house in Pretoria. A man had accidentally shot his girlfriend dead.
The man, Oscar, feared intruders were in his house.
That night, Oscar had difficulty sleeping because it was very hot. Reeva then asked him what was wrong.
Oscar got out of bed to grab a fan. Then he placed the fan inside their bedroom. He closed the sliding doors, locked them, and closed the curtains.
Meanwhile, Oscar heard the bathroom window being opened.
Oscar believed there was a burglar breaking into his house.
He froze in fear.
Then he thought about arming himself. He had to protect himself and Reeva. So Oscar recovered his gun from under his bed.
He screamed at the burglars to leave his house. He yelled out to Reeva, telling her to get on the floor and call the police.
The lights were off during the whole ordeal.
Then Oscar heard noise from the bathroom as if the intruder was trying to come out. Oscar fired four shots at the bathroom door.
Oscar went back to the room and tried to ask Reeva if she was alright.
But Reeva didn’t answer him.
Oscar reached for the bed, looking for Reeva. But she wasn’t there. Neither was she on the floor or hiding behind the curtains.
Oscar Had Killed Reeva
It dawned on Oscar that the person he thought was an intruder was actually his girlfriend.
Oscar yelled for help from his balcony. Then he put on his prosthetic legs, ran to the bathroom, and tried to kick the locked bathroom door open.
He then used a bat to hit the door. Finally, he broke the door down.
He picked up Reeva and carried her downstairs to the entrance of his house.
Then he called for help.
The emergency services soon arrived, only to find Reeva dead. Reeva was shot in the hip, above the right elbow, and in the head.
The bullet in her head struck the right side of her head and fractured her skull before entering her brain.
The Investigation Into Reeva’s Death
The police soon began investigating Oscar’s story of what happened.
Oscar stated that he fired the first two shots in quick succession. But the wounds on Reeva’s body proved otherwise.
There was a substantial time gap between each shot.
If Oscar had fired four shots quickly, all the wounds would have been closer together. Instead, they weren’t.
This meant Reeva likely screamed after the first and second shots.
Even if Oscar thought it was an intruder, he would have realized at some point that it was Reeva screaming in the bathroom.
Therefore, Oscar was arrested, charged with premeditated murder, and tried in court.
The Testimonies Against Oscar
A neighbor came forward to testify against Oscar.
The neighbor had woken up to a woman screaming and calling for help. Then the neighbor heard gunshots followed by more screams.
The neighbor also heard a man yelling simultaneously with the woman.
Oscar’s ex-girlfriend also testified against him.
She stated that Oscar carried his gun everywhere with him. And Oscar was in the habit of firing his gun when he got angry.
He once fired it out of the sunroof of his car. And in another incident, he fired it into a restaurant’s floor.
Also, Oscar didn’t ask Reeva if she also heard the noise that he believed was from the burglar.
Neither did he hear Reeva speaking back to him after he told her to call the police before shooting at the bathroom door.
However, when he was still with his ex-girlfriend, he once heard a strange noise at his house.
That time, he woke up his girlfriend first and asked her if she had heard anything before he proceeded to go check what was happening.
Reeva Wanted to Get Away From Oscar
Texts surfaced that showed that Reeva was afraid of Oscar.
She stated that he scolded her, attacked her, and she was sometimes scared of how he reacted during arguments.
Oscar tried to gain pity from everyone by taking off his prosthetic legs and walking on leg stumps in court. Nonetheless, the prosecutors believed Oscar was guilty.
They believed that Oscar and Reeva fought on the day of her murder. Reeva retreated and locked herself in the bathroom to protect herself.
However, Oscar was enraged.
He retrieved his gun and shot at the bathroom door. Reeva screamed in between the shots. But Oscar kept on firing.
Then he kicked down the bathroom door, carried Reeva out, and faked a story.
The Aftermath
On September 12th, 2014, Oscar was found guilty of manslaughter and reckless endangerment for discharging a firearm in the restaurant.
He was sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison plus another suspended three years.
The prosecution filed an appeal against the decision to acquit Oscar of premeditated murder.
The court then changed Oscar’s charge from manslaughter to murder. On July 6th, 2016, his sentence was increased to six years.
The prosecutors appealed again against the length of the sentence.
On November 24th, 2017, Oscar’s sentence was increased to fifteen years minus the time he had already served. He will be eligible for parole this 2023.
Sources: Wikipedia.org, Oscar Pistorius, this is MONSTERS