PRETORIA, June 15 (ANA) – Judge Thokozile Masipa on Wednesday granted a request by the State that a ban on the publication of crime scene photos of Reeva Steenkamp be lifted.
The graphic photographs taken at Oscar Pistorius’s Pretoria home following the murder on the morning of February 14, 2013 formed part of the evidence presented during the trial in the High Court in Pretoria and therefore was public record,” said Masipa.
She said the the ban on the publications of the images had been made to "protect the integrity of the family".
"If the family of the deceased feel that protection is no longer necessary, it’s not for me to interfere,” Judge Masipa said.
The State’s application for the lifting of the ban followed a plea by Reeva’s father, Barry Steenkamp, to release the gruesome images.
"We apply for the lifting of that order so that those photographs can once and for all be viewed by everyone," said state prosecutor Gerrie Nel.
"I have in the break had a consultation again with the parents. I have shown them the photographs and they asked me to bring a serious application to this court.
The order we seek is that the court will allow those photographs to be made available publicly."
Pistorius’s defence counsel Barry Roux had argued releasing the photos would be inappropriate. "It’s got wide ramifications and I don’t think it’s appropriate to consider it as part of this," said Roux. "Would it be in the interests of children to look at the photos?"
African News Agency (ANA)
