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Jan. 7, 2025

The Murder of Reeva Steenkamp

The Murder of Reeva Steenkamp
Listen to "The Murder of Reeva Steenkamp" on Spreaker.

In this episode, we explore the life of an inspiring woman who rose to prominence through resilience, compassion, and advocacy. Her story intertwines with that of a celebrated athlete, leading to a series of events that captured global attention. Join us as we delve into a case that challenges the perception of Oscar Pistorius and the pursuit of justice.

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Transcript

Episode #61 - Reeva Steenkamp

 

[Shaun] 

Oscar Pistorius was well known by his nickname “the blade runner” because of his trademark running blades. He was a national hero in South Africa competing in international competitions in his 20’s

 

[John] 

He had a much darker side though. Ex-girlfriends detailed shocking abuse at the hands of Pistorius over and over and over. His jealousy, insecurity, drinking, and gun ownership were a dangerous mix that eventually cost his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp her life.

 

(Music - Pause for 8 seconds)

 

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun, and with me as always, is the one and only John.

 

[John] 

I am the only John in the room.

 

[Shaun] 

This season we did two episodes on Domestic Violence in professional sports. Originally we picked 6 cases in 6 sports, but we realized pretty quickly that we’d need to split that into two episodes. 

 

After researching the horrific downfall of Jonathan “War Machine” Koppenhaver we realized that we had another very long episode on our hands.. So we broke it up again, and decided to cover The murder of Reeva Steenkamp later in the season. 

 

Do you want to get us started?

 

[John] 

Of course. This week’s case might surprise some people, the murder of Reeva Steenkamp (STEERN-KUMP) by her boyfriend and extremely well-known Paralympian Oscar Pistorius.

 

When we were researching this case, as you can probably guess there was a LOT of coverage. There were countless articles, and documentaries that aired on Investigation Discovery, the BBC, and even books written by people involved. The Wikipedia entry on Oscar Pistorius has 210 references (the one on Reeva has 43), and there’s even a separate entry for the murder case

 

The thing that you can't get away from in this case is that Oscar Pistorius was, and really still is, an A-List celebrity and a national hero in South Africa because of all he achieved in the sports world and it obvious that that colored how the court system treated him. No one wanted to believe the truth about him that was right there, but we’ll get to that.

 

First lets talk about Reeva Steenkamp. So you want to tell us about her?

 

[Shaun] 

Of course. Reeva was born on August 19th, 1983 in Cape Town, South Africa. Her parents were Barry who was a horse trainer and June (actually his second wife).

 

Barry had a son Adam, and June had a daughter Simone (last name Cowburn). The family lived in Port Elizabeth, and Reeva went to high school at St Dominic’s Priory School there, and then attended Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and earned a Bachelor of Laws degree. That’s essentially a bachelor's degree that is the first step toward going into the legal profession in quite a few countries outside of the United States, including South Africa. 

 

The Bachelor of Laws was the primary law degree here in the US too until the JD degree replaced it in the 1960’s.

 

Reeva was "more than just a pretty face, she had a beautiful heart and ambition" according to her friend Kerry Smith. She also loved to read and was an avid horse rider, likely because her dad was a horse trainer. 

 

In her final year at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, she broke her back in a horse riding accident, and she was confined to bed for two months and had to completely re-learn how to walk. Her friend said that it was a life-changing thing for Reeva, saying "I think it made her realize that things can happen so quickly,".

 

She finished her degree and applied to the bar in 2011, and planned to be working as a legal advocate by 2013. Her career is listed as “paralegal” indicating she was doing some legal work in addition to her modeling while living in Johannesburg.

 

It feels like we say this a lot, but her career was taking off, specifically her modeling career.

 

[John] 

Looking back at her early experiences, it seems pretty obvious she was going to be a successful model. She entered a beauty contest at age 15 where she was “discovered” by a local journalist who described her as having the “it factor”, and compared her to a young Kate Moss.

 

She won the “Miss Port Elizabeth” contest in 2005 put on by the local paper the Port Elizabeth Herald at the age of 22. She appeared in FHM magazine as a cover girl and model, she ranked #40 in the “top 40 sexiest women in the world” list in FHM Magazine, and appeared in shows on the BBC like “Baking Made Easy”, as well as being a “live roaming presenter” for Fashion TV in South Africa, and countless ads for cars, perfumes.. Things like that

 

She also had signed a contract to do a reality show in South Africa called “Tropika Island of Treasure” which ended up airing after her death, and dedicating its first season to her.

 

As a model and celebrity and socialite A-Lister in the Johannesburg modeling and fashion scene, she was incredibly well-known and regarded. 

 

She was the Celebrity face of the ”Spirit Day” anti-bullying campaign in 2012 (Spirit Day is an annual holiday for LGBTQ awareness) and she often spoke out about GBV and “Femicide” which we’ll talk about in a bit.

 

[Shaun] 

She started dating Pistorius in December of 2012. In the earlier articles that were written, there were few mentions of anything being wrong in their relationship. After all Oscar was a national hero who overcame so much and achieved amazing things, which is all true of course.

 

Oscar Pistorius was born November 22nd, 1986 in Johannesburg. He was born with a congenital defect called fibular hemimelia meaning he was missing the outside of both feet and both fibulas which resulted in both of his legs being amputated below the knees at a very young age. 

 

His native language is Afrikaans, but he’s also fluent in English. For his whole life, he was VERY active in sports, including water polo, tennis, boxing, and rugby despite his disability which is undeniably impressive.

 

When he sustained a serious knee injury playing Rugby, he was introduced to running, and he really never looked back. He was fitted with his famous “running blades” by a South African prostheticist which led to him getting the nickname “Blade Runner”.

 

You can see how his legend could grow from there.

 

He graduated from the University of Pretoria in 2006 with a bachelor's Degree in Business Management with Sports Science.

 

[John] 

Pistorius’ career in track and field is well known, so we wont go into much detail here, but we will say that he competed as a Paralympian and also competed in non-disabled sports events, winning quite a few medals in both areas, and even competing in the 2012 summer Olympics (against nondisabled athletes)

 

There was controversy about his running blades and whether they gave him an advantage in competition. The German Sports University, Cologne asserted that he used 25% less energy with 30% less mechanical work needed to run when compared to athletes with “natural legs and ankles” but that was overruled and he was allowed to compete. If you watch footage of the 2012 Olympics, you can tell he’s shockingly fast.

 

He could run on a treadmill at 25 miles per hour and completed the 100 meters in 10.91 seconds, a world record.

 

He was fast. That’s enough about that.

 

You arent going to be shocked by this, but Oscar Pistorius had a well-documented dark side. A former girlfriend detailed some of the abuse she endured from him. He allegedly locked her in the house with no food for hours at a time, called her parents to track her movement, physically abused her, and threatened her to such a degree that she feared for her life.

 

She described him as angry and possessive, and she said she was left with scars where he bit and pinched her while they were together for 18 months. Her relationship was honestly terrifying. She related stories during the trial about how he constantly carried his gun with him, drank excessively, and got enraged while drinking. At one point she said that she hid his gun from him because she was afraid he’d use it on her. 

 

About Reeva, she said “What happened to Reeva Steenkamp could so easily have happened to me. I definitely think that could have been me – without a doubt – many, many, many times.”

 

On the occasion she described, got so drunk that he fell down and injured his fucking face but thought she beat him up and started calling her a bitch and looking for the hidden gun.

 

In another case with another woman named Cassidy Taylor-Memmory  According to a 2014 CBS News report, Pistorius allegedly broke her leg at a party in 2009 after slamming a door and punching it, causing a panel to fall on her. 

 

Taylor, who was a South African blogger reached an out-of-court settlement with Pistorius in late 2013, as reported by The Independent in 2014. Pistorius’ decision to settle was reportedly based on his lawyers' advice that he couldn’t handle both civil and criminal legal battles simultaneously (the murder and also the assault)

 

[Shaun] 

That brings us back to Reeva dating Pistorius starting in December of 2012. Oscar Pistorius was a jealous, insecure, unstable person, who was a gun collector and had a well-known short temper. 

 

We talked recently about the Lethality Assessment in a bonus episode but briefly,  the Lethality Assessment can help offer guidance as to what degree of mortal danger a domestic violence victim is in based on 20 key factors.

Things like controlling behavior, gun ownership, and jealousy are all on that list, and Pistorius exhibited all of these.

They had only been dating for 3 months, but text messages extracted from Reeva’s phone show a great many text messages describing Pistorius’ petulant, petty, mean, and jealous behavior toward her

 

In one example Reeva says "You have picked on me excessively … I do everything to make you happy and you do everything to throw tantrums,". She also called Pistorius out for being jealous over past relationships, and went as far as to say “I’m scared of you sometimes, of how you snap at me,”

 

In the early morning hours of February 14th, Valentine's Day, 2013, Oscar Pistorius shot Reeva 3 times, killing her almost instantly. At the time, she was hiding in a small toilet cubicle in his apartment. 

 

When the police arrived, he admitted to having shot her and told them he’d mistaken her for an intruder (more on this in a minute)

 

His murder trial began on March 3rd, 2014 in Pretoria and was compared to the trial of OJ Simpson. It was huge news in South Africa (and everywhere really) that such a well-known and previously beloved figure, a sports hero, had been accused of such a horrific crime. 

 

No one wanted to believe he was capable of this, but as we mentioned before his ex-girlfriends knew and this didn't shock them at all.

 

His defense was based on his version of events, of course.

 

We obtained a copy of the affidavit that Pistorius used to attempt to obtain bail, and it has his full account of what he claims happened. 

 

Its long, so we took the liberty of shortening it, but you can read the full affidavit in the show notes, but here’s his version

On the 13th of February 2013, Reeva and I had planned to go out with friends, but she called and asked if we could spend the evening at home instead. I agreed, and we enjoyed a quiet dinner. By around 10 PM, we were in the bedroom—she was doing yoga while I watched TV, without my prosthetic legs on. We were deeply in love, and she had even given me a Valentine's Day gift, which she asked me to open the next day. After her yoga, we both went to sleep.

In the early hours of 14 February, I woke up, went onto the balcony to bring the fan inside, and closed the sliding doors. I then heard a noise in the bathroom and felt a sudden sense of terror. I knew there were no burglar bars on the bathroom window, and with ladders left outside (because of construction), I feared an intruder had entered. Without my prosthetic legs, I still had some mobility but felt vulnerable.

[John]

I grabbed my pistol from under the bed and shouted for the intruder to leave while asking Reeva to call the police. The room was dark, and I assumed she was still in bed. I noticed the bathroom window was open, and the toilet door was closed. I heard movement inside and believed the intruder was in there. Fearful for our safety, I fired shots at the door.

When I returned to the bed, I realized Reeva wasn’t there. It struck me that she could have been in the toilet. I rushed to the balcony, screamed for help, and then tried to break down the door. After finding the key, I opened the door and saw Reeva, still alive but slumped over.

I called a friend to get help and contacted Netcare for an ambulance. I rushed downstairs to unlock the front door and then carried Reeva downstairs. My friend and a doctor arrived, and though I tried to help her, Reeva died in my arms.

The prosecution, however had built its case on a few key points, saying that it was an intentional act after an argument. Neighbors testified that they heard loud voices and what sounded like an argument coming from Pistorius's home on the night of the shooting. They said they heard screaming before the 4 gunshots.

 

They also pointed out there was no evidence of an intruder, and that the security system was working, and there was also no evidence that Pistorius mistook her for an intruder.

 

They also pointed out the fact that he kept a loaded 9mm pistol under his bed, meaning that he just always had access to this weapon, not that he was “armed because of fear of an intruder”

 

After firing the shots, Pistorius took several minutes before realizing that Steenkamp was the one he had shot, suggesting premeditation.

 

They also contested his claim that he wasn't wearing his prosthetics because of the angle and location of the bullet holes. They said that if he had time to put on his prosthetic legs, this looked less like a man panicking thinking there was an intruder, and more like a premeditated murder.

 

Also, in the South African legal system, they have a principle called “dolus eventualis” which means that he must have understood the possibility that his actions could result in someone's death and he proceeded regardless, pointing toward intent to murder

 

The closest analog in the US legal system is reckless disregard or “depraved heart” murder in which a person exhibits cold disregard for human life.

 

The trial system in South Africa is very different than the United States. There is no jury whatsoever, the trial is led by a single judge, or a Judge and two “assessors” (the jury system was abolished in 1969 in the apartheid era because of concerns over bias in the jury pool due to racism)

 

The judge determined that Pistorius was guilty only of “culpable homicide” which is similar to manslaughter in the US, and sentenced to 5 years in prison. 

 

He was released on October 19th 2015 after serving the minimum of 1 SIXTH of his sentence.

 

The state appealed his original conviction and in December 2015, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal overturned Pistorius's conviction and replaced it with a murder conviction. He was sentenced to 6 years (again, shockingly short) and after another appeal by the state, the sentence was increased to 15 years, which tacked on another 13  years and 5 months to his time already served.

 

[Shaun] 

Pistorius was denied parole on March 31st, 2023, but on January 5th, 2024, he was paroled after only having served 9 years for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.

 

In South Africa, violence against women is an epidemic. In 2020, one woman died at the hands of an intimate partner every 6-8 minutes as reported in a study done at the University of Free State. 

 

In 2019, South Africa ranked in the top 5 countries with the highest rates of murder of women.

 

Reeva’s last Instagram post reads "I woke up in a happy safe home this morning. Not everyone did. Speak out against the rape of individuals in SA. RIP Anene Booysen." The post referred to the murder of an 18-year-old, who had been raped by multiple assailants, brutally mutilated, and left at a construction site in the Western Cape in February 2013. She died a few days later as a result of the severity of the sexual assault. 

 

Reeva was a passionate activist in the fight against GBV (Gender Based Violence) in South Africa. She was set to deliver a speech to her high school on the topic the day after she was murdered, and in her honor, her mother June delivered that speech.

 

In South Africa they use the term “femicide”, referring to the intentional killing of women or girls because of their gender. It’s not an official legal term, but it’s widely recognized and discussed as a part of the wider topic of GBV. 

 

Femicide is, no surprise, often linked to domestic abuse, sexual violence, and systemic gender inequality. Generally, these cases are prosecuted as homicides, but if the crime is based on gender, it can lead to aggravated sentencing.

 

[John] 

The problem is known, recognized, and discussed, and the government has tried to address it by

  • Implementing laws such as the Domestic Violence Act and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offenses and Related Matters) Amendment Act which aim to ensure justice for victims of GBV and femicide
  • Having specific courts that deal with GBV cases
  • Implementing a national strategic plan to address the problem
  • Aggravated sentencing.. Courts can impose stiffer penalties if a crime is motivated by GBV or characterized as femicide.

 

Unfortunately, though, the trend continues, with South Africa still having some of the worst rates of violence against women in the world.

 

Given all of that, it’s even more shocking that Oscar Pistorius is now out of prison, walking among the population, free to date and abuse more women, and could even compete in track and field again, while those who loved Reeva are left without any real justice.

 

Next week we’ll be back to talking about a more local case, but it's so important to keep these stories in mind, to talk about them, to remember the victims, and to work toward a world where this isn't allowed to happen.

 

With these stories especially, its a harsh reminder that while we focus on domestic violence crimes in vegas.. What happens here, happens everywhere.