Oscar’s apology “not genuine and sincere”
Although she found it difficult, Reeva Steenkamp’s cousin believed that Oscar Pistorius should pay for the death of the blonde model by going to prison.
The apology to the parents of Reeva Steenkamp by Oscar Pistorius in court did not seem genuine and only brought tears to the family as it reinforced the reality that the bloned beauty was dead, the North Gauteng High Court was told this morning.
Testifying in aggravation of sentence in the trial in which the bilateral amputee was found guilty on a charge of culpable homicide for the February 2013 shooting to death of Steenkamp, the late model’s cousin Kim Martin said she felt that Pistorius must pay for what he had done.
“My family is not seeking revenge but he had shot an innocent, harmless and unarmed person behind a closed door and I believe he must pay for taking Reeva’s life and for what he had done to her parents and the rest of her family and also to his own family,” an emotional Martin testified.
The court owed it to society to sentence him to a custodial punishment and by not giving him a prison sentence, would enable Pistorius to feel that what he had done was all right, she continued.
Asked by State advocate Gerrie Nel how she had felt when the athlete apologised in court for causing Steenkamps’ death, Martin said she did not feel that it was genuine.
“I remember crying when he made the public apology as it brought back the reality that Reeva was dead but his apology did not seem sincere,” she told the judge.
Asked how she currently felt about Pistorius, Martin said she was fearful of him but tried very hard to put him out of her mind.
“In our house we have a rule that his name may not be mentioned as we do not want to spend energy to think about him.”
She said although it was difficult for her to say, she believed he must be incarcerated if conditions in prison were humane and could provide for a disabled person.
“If the prison cannot I would not want that for anybody,” she said.
Barry Roux SC, representing Pistorius told Martin that Pistorius had written lengthy letters of apology to Steenkamp’s parents but that he had been advised by their lawyer not to hand the letters over.
“If the Steenkamp family would allow it, Pistorius would want to privately apologise to them,” Roux said.
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