Late Girlfriend's Mom: Oscar Pistorius Is 'Going To Pay For His Crime'
Reeva Steenkamp's mother June told the TODAY Show Thursday she's relieved that a South African appeals court overturned the culpable homicide conviction for Oscar Pistorius — convicting him of murder instead in the Valentine's Day 2013 shooting of that left her daughter dead.
"I want respect for my daughter's life, and that's what I got today: the conviction of murder," the grieving parent said. "I feel so proud now that she's got some respect and she hasn't lost her life for nothing — she'll be remembered."
June said the unpredictable nature of the hearing made for a "tremendous" amount of "anticipation" heading into the morning hearing. While the amount of his new sentence has not been determined — South Africa's High Court will sentence the Olympic sprinter in the murder, which comes with a 15-year minimum — June said that "it doesn't really matter, the amount of time" the double-amputee gets sentenced to.
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"That's got nothing to do with me — it won't make any difference to my life — she's gone now," she said. "I don't want revenge against him, but he's going to pay for his crime."
June said that Pistorius, 29, had reached out to her as a condition of his parole agreement, but she's undecided about if she will go through with it.
"I think all I would say is to explain to him what he's taken away from her," she said. "He's taken away all the joy in my husband's and my life."
Barry Steenkamp, the late model's father, urged to South African TV station ANN7, "Let us now all get on with our lives, I'm sure she'll be able to rest as well now."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Justice Lorimer Eric Leach called the events that unfolded "a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions," relating the aspects of the case that spurred the comment.
"A young man overcomes huge physical disabilities to reach Olympian heights as an athlete," Leach said. "In doing so he becomes an international celebrity. He meets a young woman of great natural beauty and a successful model. Romance blossoms and then ironically, on Valentine's Day, all is destroyed when he takes her life."