June Steenkamp Claims Oscar Pistorius Never Loved Her Daughter Reeva
The mother of Reeva Steenkamp, the model who was shot dead by her boyfriend, paralympian Oscar Pistorius, is speaking out about the nature of her late daughter's relationship with Pistorius before she was killed.
In an interview with BBC World, June Steenkamp said that Pistorius never really loved Reeva and treated her like "his arm candy" and even tried to dictate what she wore, how she behaved, and how she spoke prior to her killing on Valentine's Day in 2013.
Steenkamp also described the time when her daughter called her and seemed to be terrified as Pistorius was driving at a dangerous speed of 161mph with her in the car.
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"One day she phoned me and said, 'Mummy, Oscar's driving like a lunatic,'" recounted Steenkamp. "And I said, 'Well you just put him on the phone.' And I said to him, 'if you hurt my baby, I will have you wiped out', just trying to scare him. And apparently, he slowed down straightaway."
Pistorius pleaded not guilty to murder and said that he mistook Reeva for an intruder in his bathroom before he shot four times through the door, and three of the bullets hit Reeva. He was convicted of culpable homicide on Sept. 12 for which he received a maximum prison sentence of five years, with the possibility of serving the rest under correctional supervision after 10 months.
In her book "Reeva: A Mother's Story," Steenkamp revealed that Reeva initially kept quiet about her relationship with Pistorius and that she was not sure if they were compatible, and that she even wondered why they fought frequently so early on. The two were three months into their relationship when Reeva was killed.
Steenkamp also admitted that Pistorius has been paying them "blood money" since March 2013, which they were forced to accept because of their difficult financial situation.
"We didn't have much choice," said Steenkamp. "We were in such a bad way; we didn't have food on the table. It was that or starve."
She disclosed that he has been paying them £340 or roughly $533 a month. They declined his offer of a £21,000 payment for the sale of his car.
"I wasn't happy about it and it did make me feel uncomfortable. But we are going to pay back every single cent," she said.
"My child was priceless," she added. "He can't buy her life."
