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Mike Holmes / Gallo via Getty Images, file
Model Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by her boyfriend, Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's Day after she locked herself in the bathroom.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Reeva Steenkamp locked herself in her room when intruders broke into her home two years ago, her uncle said, echoing the model’s apparent actions the night she was shot dead by Olympian Oscar Pistorius.
Steenkamp was given counseling after the break-in at the house where she lived with her parents in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, uncle Mike Steenkamp said in an interview Monday.
According to his account, Steenkamp was at home with her mother in 2011 when a burglar carrying a crowbar smashed into the house. When she heard footsteps Steenkamp raced into her room and hid behind a locked door, he said.
NBC Sports' Mary Carillo talks to the family and friends of Reeva Steenkamp, the South African model shot and killed by Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius. The family and friends recount the woman's life including her past abusive relationship and her dream to be an advocate against domestic violence.
Prosecution lawyers believe that Steenkamp, 29, locked herself in a bathroom to escape from her boyfriend Pistorius on the morning of Feb. 14.
They contend that Pistorius -- the 26-year-old sprinter known as "Blade Runner" who inspired millions when he became the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics -- intended to murder his girlfriend when he fired through the door of the bathroom in his Johannesburg home.
Pistorius says he thought an intruder had broken in.
'The fear'
During the interview, Mike Steenkamp said his niece "must have been reliving the nightmare" of the break-in in the moments before she was killed.
"Two years ago, the same style of locking in. And they could hear the intruders in the house," he said at his home in Cape Town alongside Reeva’s cousin, Jason Mckay. "They took the laptops and everything else in the house."
"Two years ago could have gone through her mind -- the same locking the door, (the) fear," he added.
Mike Steenkamp also said he had forgiven Pistorius for what happened to his niece.
"I've forgiven Oscar and that's actually helped me,” he said. “It's strengthened me so much that I can manage to cope with daily life."
Almost three weeks after he was arrested in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, Olympian Oscar Pistorius' lawyers are returning to court to challenge some of the conditions of his bail. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.
Pistorius was granted bail last month and is due to return to court in June.
But his lawyers are set to challenge some of the conditions of his bail, which they believe to be unwarranted and unfair.
They argue that evidence presented in court showed that the Paralympian is not a flight risk, so should have the option of traveling outside South Africa with permission.
Mike Steenkamp struggled to contemplate the possibility of Pistorius going overseas.
"You know, I can't associate with that. I can't allow my mind to go in that direction. I must try and keep away from that. And that's the only way that's going to help myself,” he said.
Mckay, Reeva's cousin, added: "It would be a bit unfair, though, because I know that anyone else in this situation would not be allowed to go anywhere else."
Pistorius' lawyers are also seeking to overturn a ruling that prevents him from returning to the estate where he shot his girlfriend.
Prosecutors have indicated that they will oppose any application to have bail conditions altered.
Related:
Slain model's father: Pistorius will 'suffer' if he's lying about her death
Oscar Pistorius' father accused of racism over gun comments
Oscar Pistorius murder case detective quits South African police
Leave a Comment:
Wow, even her family is buying this murderous bastard's ridiculous story. It is up to all of us to fight for justice for Reeva, she has no one in her corner. Unbelievable...
Agree, wait till the trial and the smear campaign starts. "Yes my niece was a money grubbing whore who had a thing for my German Shepard while watching Lassie reruns". GMUS
I'm not sure what he means by 'forgive'. It's useless to hate the perpetrator...it doesn't bring the victim back.
But how can anyone really be forgiven until he confesses, apologizes, serve his sentence and shows sincere remorse and repentance? Pistorius has admitted he shot Reeva but not that he intended to kill her. His story is full of holes.
I wouldn't be so quick to forgive him, and I'd be concerned he'd do something violent again.
@kaybee...
The Judeo-Christian standard for forgiveness is "a three-legged stool" that requires all legs to function. They are 1) an open and public admission of wrongdoing by the person seeking forgiveness, 2) a sincere mindset by the person to never repeat the improper activity, and 3) some legitimate attempt to make the victim or their family whole and/or to pay recompense for both tangible losses and pain and suffering.
Trials often confuse the moral issues, but at this point I do not see that any of the conditions have been met.
@Leroy- and you are willing to convict and judge him even before a fair trial. How is it you're privvy to case information wherein you can make such a bold assertion before anyone else? Oh- I guess you're just blindly believing what you read in the media. Have you BEEN to South Africa? Are you aware of what people who live there have to deal with in respect to crime? No...didn't think so.
christy, are you aware that firing a gun comes with the responsiblity of whereever that bullet ends up and that that's why you don't fire blindly? the question isn't whether he should go to jail cause even if it was an accident he's the one that caused it but rather what crime is he guilty of, negligence, manslaughter or murder.
If this guy doesn't get convicted of at least manslaughter then something is rotten in that country. So she locked herself in the bathroom, does that automatically mean she thought their was a burglar in the house? Why wasn't Pistol-orius in there with her then? Oh, cause he was outside trying to kill her. She's not even cold yet and the brother is giving up?
I will never know what that terror was like unless I had no legs and an intruder was in my home.Even though the toilet area was small there was no assurance that one or any bullet hit the mark.There was no assurance that any shot was lethal.The supposed target was invisible.
I would like to take any accuser to a target practice room. In the room there would be a box the size of the Pistorius toilet room with a dummy with vital areas marked placed beforehand in that room. I would then darken the entire area and tell the shooter/accuser their life may depend on hitting one or more of the vital areas. The shooter could not know if the dummy was crouched behind the sink or pressed into a far corner. How successful would you guarantee that even one shot would hit? Two?
The article doesn't say she locked herself in the bathroom because she thought it was a burglar, it says she locked herself in the bathroom to hide from her boyfriend...
I remember when Lacy Peterson was missing her husbands family stood by him for several months too until all the details came out. It is hard to think anyone would kill someone on purpose so "normal" people have a hard time wrapping their minds around it at first. Lacy was the pregnant woman that was killed by her husband in California, she was pregnant but they found out over time that he had a girlfriend and he told the girlfriend that his wife had died!!! Before they even knew if she was dead!!!! This guy did it! There are MANY things wrong with his story and one of them is that he shot SEVERAL times through the door....So he hit her I'm sure she would be screaming at this point and he would know it was her he was hitting unless he is trying to make us think she was dead with the first hit! I don't believe he didn't check the bed to make sure she was in it before he went looking for this burglar too and if it was a burglar why wouldn't you tell them you were going to shoot them before you did if you chased them into the bathroom! Too unbelieveable!!!
Hideing and locking the door is one thing. Shooting through it is another. The guy with the crowbar didn't kill her. I never heard of someone comming to rob your house and hideing in the bathroom or any room.
I cannot make sense of what marywhatever is trying to convey.
She's saying Oscar is liar and a cold-blooded murderer.
She's saying that victims hide behind locked doors, not burglars. It would be stupid to assume that a burglar had broken in and immediately locked himself in a tiny toilet room. If the burglar had heard someone coming he would have locked the door, but would have escaped by the same window that he came in. He would not have just waited sitting on the toilet.
@Marywhatever- Unless you know what the conditions are like to live in South Africa, perhaps you should open up your mind to entertain that not every country has the same conditions your country does.
In South Africa, Each day an average of nearly 50 people are murdered. There is a murder every 25 minutes. In addition to these 18,000 murders each year, there are another 18,000 attempted murders.
I think most people might think and act differently if you were subject to this kind of crime rate.
A girlfriend of mine who lives in Cape Town came to meet me for dinner while I was there- she had to bring her father for the entire evening because she was so fearful of having her car somehow disabled (throwing boulders from overpasses, etc) as robberies on highways are so rampant.
Just imagine how that could alter one's life...
christy, that's great info but has zero to do with the situation. he fired blindly into a room where what he thought was happening, or so he says, wasn't and killed an innocent girl. would your friend do the same thing? at the very least it's negligence and at the very worst it's murder.
I guess Oscar must have been scared he was going to get hit by a boulder inside his own home.......yea, that makes more sense now.
ChristyT
I lived in SA 14 years, don't bother, you can't debate closed minds.
All I know is Pistorius aimed to KILL. Given the money and power his family own, it's hard to expect justice for the victim will prevail. No matter what, the whole world already know this guy is a cold-blooded murderer.
I actually think he was so blind out-of-his-head furious that he fired at the bathroom door in just pure rage at the door itself, or anything in his way - not thinking that bullets penetrate wood duh. Not thinking at all - incapable of it at that time. Then the screams register and he's shocked back into reality - a bit too late. Some folks get that mad a lot of the time, some maybe never, some maybe only once-in-a-lifetime. Whether just poor control or steroid-induced, still murder.
By the way - Reeva was certainly pretty, but why does story after story refer to her solely as a 'model'? She was, certainly, and more power to her, but she also was an attorney, just passed the bar I think, and no one mentions that... the gal had a brain on her shoulders, and an excellent career ahead of her. No need for money-grubbing plans there, I would think. I think i read her family is well off as well.
sorry but anyone with a brain doesn't shoot a gun and then worry about where the bullets went afterwards.
Yesterday I read he's distraught and suicidal...over selling his horse and other personal stuff!!! My reply comes from a South Park quote in Cash for Gold episode: "Put the gun to your temple and pull the trigger. DO IT!"
he doesnt have a leg to stand on....
lol
that stupid joke is getting old.
The first thing I thought when the story broke was......wasn't he wondering where his girlfriend was as hes shooting down the door of the bathroom.......and I assumed she was screaming as he started shooting at the door..............this guy is a murderer Im quite sure...........all this bravo talk "overcoming his disabilities"....Im afraid not in this case......I think he had a lot of anger inside>
I suggest that Uncle dumb a** shut up. He is helping the white OJ get away with murder.
I wonder if this uncle isn't being paid off. How can anyone in their right mind believe this guy's story? On VALENTINES day yet, you shoot your valentine through the bathroom door because you though it was a burglar?? She was dressed, and leaving him on valentines day. He couldn't stand the idea that she was running to someone else to spend valentines day with and he murdered her. It is mind boggling to see how many people can be so gullible
While I understand that the majority of people are refusing to believe that this could have been an accident --- I don't understand this: why do you have to ridicule and belittle people who choose to believe otherwise ?
I belong to the apparent minority of people who CAN imagine something like this happening as a freak accident, but I also acknowledge the possibility that I might be wrong....that doesn't mean I choose to bust your balls if you disagree with me. We are all just voicing our opinions, and this is exactly what it is about: our OPINIONS, not the facts. None of us knows the truth, but we are all entitled to have an opinion --- if I choose to believe that this was not premeditated, it doesn't make me gullible or stupid, it makes me a person who has an opinion that may differ from yours.
I never saw this guy as a hero, I never worshipped him -- but @!$%# like this could happen to anyone, given the circumstances. You can scream on these public forums with your anonymous posts tilll you're blue in the face and judge him all you want...but you're still just voicing your opinion -- and your opinion is not necessarily the absolute truth.
I just wish we had a little bit more empathy and compassion. And before you start putting me down; yeah, I do have compassion for Steenkamp -- nobody should die like that. If that happened to my sister, I'd be devastated....on the other hand, if the shooter was my brother, I'd be equally devastated. There are no winners in this case. Even if you couldn't disagree with me more - even if you think I'm delusional - humor me and and think of this for two minutes: What if it really was an accident ? What if insane things like this really do happen....and what if it was your best mate, your brother, your son who pulled the trigger ?
Do we have to be so hostile toward one another ?
Peace.
You can imagine it but you might be wrong? What do you mean, when you say you might be wrong? You must think it DID happen the way Oscar said it did if you would be wrong, not just think it's possible. Hell, even I think it's "possible," but good lord, no one has ever done this have they? Has anyone killed whoever was in their bathroom without checking if it was one of their family members or guests first, just assumed it was a burglar and killed them without even yelling "who's in there"? If you believe this guy, I have some nice ocean-front property in Saskatchewan to sell you, cheap!
It is astounding that a South African company VUMA REPUTATION MANAGEMENT is earning money supporting Oscar Pistorius, cleaning up his website and making him look like some type of hero and collecting messages of support for him. VUMA REPUTATION MANAGEMENT whose name is all over his website should be boycotted by all clear thinking South Africans, Its owner Janine Hills should be called to account. This company's strategic partners REPUTATION INSTITUTE, ETHICS MONITORING & MANAGEMENT SERVICES (PTY) LTD, ELOQUENCE PUBLIC SPEAKING, TIMOTHY MAURICE WEBSTER, INDUBE STAFFING and THEWINWINGROUP all need to make clear where they stand on this issue. The conduct of this company is an absolute disgrace.
This story makes no sense since there was no breakend for her to take evasive action from. If she was hiding it could only be from Pistorius not some imaginary burglar in a secure, gated community. It sound to me that there is some money being passed around for sensationalist stories. We can only hope that somehow justice will prevail in spite of the payoffs to families and witnesses.
It is possible that Reeva locked herself in the bathroom if she had previously done this when confronted with an intruder.
However, until my questions are answered fully, I cannot reach a determination of guilt without all the facts being known.
I'd like to know more facts about the shots and where Oscar was standing when he fired the shots? Were the three shots which appear to be fired near the handle of the locked door an attempt to open the lock? Or was it as Botha said that the shots were not fired straight at the toilet door, but rather “directly to the toilet, the basin itself.” “If you walk in directly and fire straight at the door you will miss the toilet,” he said, suggesting Pistorius had been aiming.
Where was Reeva when the shot was fired in the hallway and if she was intentionally fired at there, did she have time to get into the bathroom, lock the door and be in the position she was in when the bullets hit her?
I'd like to also know more about the visibility inside that apartment at that time on that evening, why the couple had swapped sides of the bed that evening, what alerted Oscar to suspecting there was an intruder in the apartment, how Oscar responded after firing the shots and why he used a different phone to call security on than the four mobiles and why he left the phone on while he was crying and what the witnesses who heard the screams and arguing before the murder had to say.
His story has so many improbabilities and unfortunate coincidences, that it is hard to believe. He supposedly went out to the balcony at the same time she went to the restroom without noticing, she went to the restroom without turning on any light, he walked by the bed and retrieved the gun under the bed without checking or noticing she wasn't there, it never occurred to him that she could be in the restoom, he shot through the door without knowing who was behind it, he yelled and she had no response to identify herself, he went back to the bedroom without knowing if the "intruder" was hit or killed, he was so "scared" of intruders that he left his balcony door open and bathroom window open when he went to bed, he happened to be sleeping on the opposite side of the bed that one night, she apparently took her cell phone into the bathroom with her and locked the bathroom door.
Why can't we all just stay calm until after we've heard all of the evidence,, then we'll get a rope and hang the bastard.
Stealing your stuff is one thing but taking a dump in your toilet crosses the line.
Alarms, security lights, dogs, barred windows...........these people ever heard of these things? Models and athletes couldn't afford some security. Guess not, hiding and a gun. I'm caring less and less about this as the judge of SA lets Oscar leave the country while he faces charges for her murder, whatever people, I mean MORONS.