This heartbreaking image of Reeva Steenkamp's body after she was
murdered by Oscar Pistorius has been released because her father wants
the world to see it.
A judge has granted a request for a number
graphic photographs to be released after prosecutors lodged a request
for images of Reeva's body to be released to the public at the request
of Barry Steenkamp.
Mr Steenkamp said he wanted the world to see
the horrendous injuries she suffered at the hands of Pistorius, in the
hope of preventing similar murders in future.
The former model
and TV presenter was shot by the disgraced sprinter at his home in
Pretoria, South Africa, in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013.
Pistorius, 29, claimed he thought she was intruder and the shooting was a tragic mistake.
But he was convicted of manslaughter and the verdict was later upgraded to murder.
The grieving father also told the court in Pretoria that "the time
will come" when he wants to talk to Pistorius in private – and that the
runner "has to pay for what he did".
His wife June has forgiven
her daughter's killer but Mr Steenkamp stressed that it does not mean
Pistorius should be freed from prison.
The 73-year-old said: “I don’t want to say that he must go to the maximum or whatever it is, but he has to pay for it.”
“June has forgiven," he continued. "She feels it right in her heart to forgive Oscar.
"But then you must understand by forgiving like that, it still does not exonerate you from the crime that you committed."
The 73-year-old also told how he hears his wife crying every night as she talks to Reeva.
He said: "She’s most probably a bit stronger but she grieves.
"I hear her at night, I hear her cry, I hear her talking to Reeva, and of course she feels just as much as I do."
Trembling while speaking, he told the court: "Every day of my life – morning, noon, night – I think of her all the time."
It
comes after Pistorius dramatically removed his prosthetic legs and
demonstrated the scale of his disability to the courtroom in a plea for
mercy today.
The former Olympic runner was asked by his defence counsel Barry Roux
to remove his fake limbs in a bid to prove he deserves leniency.
Pistorius took his legs off, then hobbled uncomfortably across the room before leaning on a wooden sideboard next to his lawyer.
He then knelt on a red cushion on the floor.
Mr Steenkamp said people had told him it would get better after a few
years following his daughter's death, but that "every day of [his] life
is the same".
"Finding out what happened, it devastated us. I ended up having a stroke.
"I don’t wish that on anybody in the whole world."
Recalling
the moment he was told of his daughter's death over the phone by his
wife June, he said: "At first I thought most probably one of our animals
had got killed.
"And she said 'come home immediately, come home'."
"I dropped everything and on my way home I tried to fathom what she
tried to tell me then I realised that she mentioned Reeva," Mr Steenkamp
continued.
"That's when I started to panic, and then driving
more, more Reeva's been killed – it hit me then. It's like it happened
yesterday."
"From that day, it's effected June, myself and my
family so much and it's been difficult to explain but our lives have
just changed completely."
