The parents of Reeva
Steenkamp said on Monday that Oscar Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend deliberately.
They spoke ahead of an appeal hearing in which
prosecutors are seeking to overturn a South African court ruling that the
athlete was not guilty of murder.
It was the first time Steenkamp's parents have
spoken out against the court's verdict.
Pistorius, 28, was found guilty last September
of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, after Judge Thokozile
Masipa said state prosecutors had failed to prove the Paralympic Gold Medalist
had shown `intent’ to kill.
The state argued throughout the six-month
trial that Pistorius had deliberately killed Steenkamp when he fired four
rounds through a locked toilet door where she was hiding after a row.
Pistorius says he believed an intruder was
inside the toilet cubicle.
Prosecutors filed an appeal last week asking
for the verdict to be changed to murder.
They argue Pistorius must have known when he
fired that the person behind the door could be killed, even if he did not know
it was Steenkamp. The appeal hearing is due to start in November.
``What actually came out in court is not the
truth," Barry Steenkamp told an Australia's television channel in an
interview aired on Sunday.
According to him, Pistorius got angry, she
went off to the toilet, locked herself inside and then him pulls out the gun
and shoots.
June Steenkamp adds: "Why didn’t he just
let her walk away?"
Pistorius, nicknamed the `Blade Runner’
because of the carbon-fibre prosthetics he used during his career on the track,
was due to be released from prison last Friday after serving 10 months of his
five-year sentence.
Justice Minister, Michael Masutha, blocked his
release because he said the decision was made without legal basis, an
intervention the Pistorius family said left them "shocked and
disappointed."
The decision has been returned to the parole
board for reconsideration, which could take up to four months.
Steenkamp's parents have said previously they
were unhappy with the court's sentencing but this is the first time they have
publicly questioned the verdict.
If convicted of murder, Pistorius will likely
be given a custodial sentence of at least 15 years. (Reuters/NAN)
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