Reeva Steenkamp’s family legal representative has responded to Oscar Pistorius’s claims that he had “no intent” to murder the model. Last week, Henke Pistorius claimed that his son was “not guilty” of killing his girlfriend.
He believes the former Paralympian was, however, responsible for manslaughter and has since accused the state of being “incompetent” and “liars”.
Reeva was shot and killed after being mistaken for a home intruder at Oscar’s Pretoria mansion. He has since served half of his 13 years and five months behind bars, and is now on parole.
WHAT DID OSCAR PISTORIUS’S DAD SAY ABOUT MURDER TRIAL?
Last week, OscarPistorius’s dad, Henke, appeared on the Piers Morgan Uncensored show, where he made bold claims about his son’s murder trial.
In it, he accused the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of being “incompetent and dishonest”. He also accused state prosecutor Gerrie Nel of “misleading and lying to the court”
Henke repeatedly claimed that Oscar had “no intent to kill” Reeva Steenkamp. He referred to evidence of his son using just four bullets to murder Reeva Steenkamp through a toilet door. Henke also claimed that Oscar did not know that his girlfriend was in the bathroom.
Oscar Pistorius – who shot and killed Reeva on 14 February 2013 – was convicted of culpable homicide in October 2014. This was later upgraded to murder in December 2015. At the time, he was handed a six-year prison sentence.
However, in November 2017, following an unsuccessful appeal, the Supreme Court of Appeal increased his jail term to 13 years and five months.
Images via SIPHIWE SIBEKO for AFP/ YouTube screenshot: Piers Morgan Uncensored.
REEVA FAMILY LEGAL REP RESPONDS
In a statement to The South African, Tana Koen, the legal representative for Reeva Steenkamp’s family, expressed her shock at Henke’s claims.
“It is on record that the learned judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal found that in firing the fatal shots, the accused must have foreseen, and therefore foresaw that whoever was behind the toilet door might die.
“The judgement further stated that the contradictions were so serious that one really does not know that his explanations are for having fired the fatal shots. No similar statements were made about the state’s conduct.
WHAT DOES GERRIE NEL SAY?
During his interview with Piers Morgan, Henke Pistorius also challenged the former NPA prosecutor to debate him on Oscar’s murder trial.
Henke demanded the “same rules as court” in his face-off with Gerrie.
He said: “I ask the questions, he can just say ‘yes or no’. Let’s see if he will accept that, please”.
Gerrie – who now works for AfriForum’s private prosecuting unit – has yet to respond.
DO YOU THINK OSCAR PISTORIUS WAS GUILTY OF MURDER OR MANSLAUGHTER?
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