She was a law-school graduate, an FHM cover girl, a celebrity contestant on “Tropika Island of Treasure” filmed in Jamaica, and a model for Avon cosmetics in South Africa. A few months ago, she started dating Paralympian Oscar Pistorious aka “Blade Runner”. Little did Reeva Steenkamp know, the relationship was going to be the death of her.
A day before yesterday, Reeva tweeted:
24 hours later, her own boyfriend shot her to death at his upscale Pretoria home in South Africa. To be precise, he shot her four times. She suffered wounds to the head and hand and died in the early hours of Thursday.
A neighbour in the residential community alerted the police about the shooting. However, when a CNN crew arrived, it saw a mortician’s van leaving the house. A 9mm pistol registered in Pistorius’s name recovered at the scene.
The question is, why would Oscar shoot his own girlfriend? On Valentine’s Day, no less?
Preliminary reports by several South African media outlets suggested that the double-amputee sprinter mistook her for an intruder at his home. South Africa has a high crime rate so it’s not unusual for homeowners to keep weapons to protect themselves from intruders. Sure, if it’s really a case of mistaken identity then Oscar was definitely quick to react. And if that’s the case then we just hope that she wasn’t planning a Valentine’s Day surprise.
As of time of writing, Oscar has been charged with murder following the shooting of his girlfriend. All speculations that he may have fired a gun to ward off an intruder in a case of mistaken identity have been dismissed by police.
UPDATE:
At a court hearing in Pretoria yesterday, Oscar Pistorius said in an affidavit, “I had no intention to kill my girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. We were deeply in love and couldn’t be more happy”. He also said that he fired at the door of the bathroom where Reeva was hiding as he was “filled with horrible fear” that someone had sneaked into his luxury Pretoria home through an open window.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel had told the court Pistorius had armed himself, put on his prosthetic legs, walked seven metres, and fired four shots through the locked bathroom door, hitting a terrified Steenkamp three times and fatally wounding her.
The Paralympian broke down in sobs when his dead girlfriend’s name was mentioned.
More to come as the story unfolds.
Sources: CNN, E! Entertainment, The Guardian, CNA, The Star.
