05-17-2013, 10:33 AM
There's an in-depth article about the case in the June 2013 Vanity Fair. The writer interviewed Reeva's parents and Hilton Botha for the piece. Interesting read. Full article here.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/0...ius-murder
A couple of snips.
REEVA'S PARENTS
![[Image: .i.3.oscar-pistorius-reeva-steenkamp-parents-05.png]](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/06/oscar-pistorius-murder/.i.3.oscar-pistorius-reeva-steenkamp-parents-05.png)
June and Barry Steenkamp
June was still outraged over the fact that she had received flowers with a note reading something like From the Office of Oscar Pistorius, and that Oscar had had the gall to hold his own private memorial service for Reeva. Soon after the killing, she said, she had received a call from Arnold Pistorius. “I said, ‘I’ve got nothing to say to you, and I don’t want to hear anything that you’ve got to say,’ ” she told me. “And he said, ‘I’m very sorry that I’ve troubled you then.’ And I just put the phone down.... Maybe he wanted to invite me to their memorial, which I think was really out of line.” Reeva’s father, Barry, 69, a burly, bearded former racehorse trainer, remained outside, unable to speak without crying. “He’s actually much more emotional than me,” said June.
WHAT'S NEXT?:
Pistorius’s statement, which he disclosed to obtain bail, will be key in his upcoming trial, for which a date has not been set. “This whole case is going to turn on ballistics and cell-phone evidence,” the Johannesburg attorney told me. “Oscar says, ‘I was walking around on my stumps in a dark house, and I pumped a few rounds through the bathroom door.’ So now they’re going to start looking ballistically. At what angle was Oscar standing? Was he upright on prosthetic legs or down on stumps? The bullets’ point of entry and exit in the door is going to show the truth. He’s opened the door on conviction: did he lie about being on his stumps?
“Also, Reeva’s cell phone was found in the bathroom. She may have been texting someone just before she died,” the attorney continued. “Cell-phone records can remain on the network for 30 days. Oscar’s version of events could also be contradicted by what went out on text messages or on telephone conversations.
“The general view is that Oscar’s in trouble. I think they’re going to run a trial and try to show that Oscar wanted to kill Reeva. Oscar’s affidavit is going to be crucial to destroy his credibility. Is Oscar going to try to make a plea agreement? Everybody expects that. Is he going to be successful? We doubt it.”
Hilton Botha feels confident that justice will be done. “They sacrificed me like a pawn on the chessboard, but now the king is in check,” he said.
Pistorius and his team are not conceding anything. “I’ll survive,” Oscar was reported by the BBC as saying upon his arrest, though his family categorically denied it. “I always win.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/0...ius-murder
A couple of snips.
REEVA'S PARENTS
June and Barry Steenkamp
June was still outraged over the fact that she had received flowers with a note reading something like From the Office of Oscar Pistorius, and that Oscar had had the gall to hold his own private memorial service for Reeva. Soon after the killing, she said, she had received a call from Arnold Pistorius. “I said, ‘I’ve got nothing to say to you, and I don’t want to hear anything that you’ve got to say,’ ” she told me. “And he said, ‘I’m very sorry that I’ve troubled you then.’ And I just put the phone down.... Maybe he wanted to invite me to their memorial, which I think was really out of line.” Reeva’s father, Barry, 69, a burly, bearded former racehorse trainer, remained outside, unable to speak without crying. “He’s actually much more emotional than me,” said June.
WHAT'S NEXT?:
Pistorius’s statement, which he disclosed to obtain bail, will be key in his upcoming trial, for which a date has not been set. “This whole case is going to turn on ballistics and cell-phone evidence,” the Johannesburg attorney told me. “Oscar says, ‘I was walking around on my stumps in a dark house, and I pumped a few rounds through the bathroom door.’ So now they’re going to start looking ballistically. At what angle was Oscar standing? Was he upright on prosthetic legs or down on stumps? The bullets’ point of entry and exit in the door is going to show the truth. He’s opened the door on conviction: did he lie about being on his stumps?
“Also, Reeva’s cell phone was found in the bathroom. She may have been texting someone just before she died,” the attorney continued. “Cell-phone records can remain on the network for 30 days. Oscar’s version of events could also be contradicted by what went out on text messages or on telephone conversations.
“The general view is that Oscar’s in trouble. I think they’re going to run a trial and try to show that Oscar wanted to kill Reeva. Oscar’s affidavit is going to be crucial to destroy his credibility. Is Oscar going to try to make a plea agreement? Everybody expects that. Is he going to be successful? We doubt it.”
Hilton Botha feels confident that justice will be done. “They sacrificed me like a pawn on the chessboard, but now the king is in check,” he said.
Pistorius and his team are not conceding anything. “I’ll survive,” Oscar was reported by the BBC as saying upon his arrest, though his family categorically denied it. “I always win.”