Barry and June Steenkamp, parents of Reeva Steenkamp, attend sentencing proceedings of paralympian Oscar Pistorius at the high court in Pretoria, Wednesday, 15 October 2014. Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide for the killing of Steenkamp. Picture:Antoine de Ras/Independent Newspapers/ Pool
Reeva Steenkamp’s parents were “horrified and upset” about a new movie titled Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer, which is supposedly told from her and her mother June’s perspective.
Barry and June Steenkamp yesterday issued a statement through their lawyer, Tania Koen, making it clear that they were not consulted about the Lifetime film regarding their daughter’s killer, former Olympic gold medallist Oscar Pistorius.
Pistorius, a double amputee, is known as the Blade Runner because of the carbon-fibre prosthetics he used as a competitive athlete.
“June and Barry Steenkamp, who are still mourning the tragic loss of their beloved daughter … had no knowledge of the making of the film, Blade Runner Killer.
“They are horrified and upset to read a report that ‘the movie is told from Steenkamp and her mother’s perspective’.
“June Steenkamp was not approached by Lifetime to participate, comment or be part of the making of the film, and did not give the producers any assistance.
“Any impression that is created that this is June’s view, or that the movie is endorsed by the Steenkamp family, is untrue and incorrect.
“The damaging and misleading claim which is made in a report by the leading trade newspaper, Dateline Hollywood, has not been denied by ‘Lifetime’, which is part of the giant American entertainment company, A+E Networks.
“Mr and Mrs Steenkamp politely request that Ms Nancy Dubuc, President and Chief Executive Officer of A+E Networks, issue a public denial of the claim in Dateline Hollywood and distance her respectable network from such a disreputable statement,” Koen said in a statement.
Pistorius was in 2014 convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for the Valentine’s Day 2013 murder of Steenkamp, who died after being shot four times behind a locked bathroom door at Pistorius’ house.
Pistorius insisted he had accidentally shot Steenkamp, thinking she was an intruder.
He was already out on parole when Judge Thokozile Masipa resentenced him to six years’ imprisonment after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) overturned his homicide conviction and found him guilty of murder.
The state’s appeal against his sentence will be heard in the SCA on November 3.
The state will argue that Pistorius’ sentence is shockingly inappropriate and that he should have been sentenced to the minimum of 15 years’ imprisonment, while Pistorius’ legal team argued that he had already been punished enough and that the limitation should now come to an end.