The cousin of Reeva Steenkamp has told the North Gauteng High Court that all the family ever wanted was the truth.
Kim Martin, the state’s final witness, was testifying on Wednesday during sentencing proceedings that could see former paralympian Oscar Pistorius go back to prison for up to 15 years.
Initially, Pistorius was sentenced for culpable homicide for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day, 2013, but that was overturned on appeal last year and he was instead convicted of murder.
Martin, who testified during the trial, said there was not a day that went by that she did not think of Reeva.
“The scars, the effect runs very deep. But, I’m a mother of three children, I have to cope, I have to be strong for them,” she told the court.
She said the family would never be able to get over what happened.
Her children had also battled to cope and “suffer very much because of this.”
“Its changed my life completely. Besides the obvious anxiety and depression, as a family we will never ever be able to carry on like normal”.
Martin testified that she saw her father crying for the first time when Reeva died, and for the second time when he learnt she would have to testify again.
Asked about Pistorius’s interview with a foreign broadcaster that will be aired on June 24, she said she couldn’t understand why he had agreed to it.
“I’m not happy about that at all. I think its unfair to talk to the world about your version when you had the opportunity in court to do so”.
She also told the court that Christmas and birthdays were “terrible” and that Valentine’s Day was especially hard for the family.
Martin said her uncle, Barry Steenkamp was a broken man: “The guilt as a father not being able to protect his daughter, its very difficult for him”.
Martin emphasised the family’s desire to hear the truth.
“All we have ever wanted is the truth. Oscar’s version changed so many times. I never ever heard him say I apologise for shooting and murdering Reeva behind that door”.
Pistorius will not be taking the stand during sentencing proceedings. Earlier this week, psychologist Professor Jonathan Scholtz told the court his mental condition was “too severe” for him to do so.
– African News Agency (ANA)
