STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed by boyfriend Oscar Pistorius
- Facing a murder charge, he says he mistook her for an intruder
- Steenkamp's uncle says the family will not attend the trial
- Mike Steenkamp says he wants to forgive Pistorius, face to face
"It hasn't really sunk in
to my way of thinking," he said.
Steenkamp and his
daughter Kim Martin told CNN this week that they aren't focusing on why Reeva Steenkamp is gone. She was shot and killed
just three weeks ago by her boyfriend, Olympian and South African track
star Oscar Pistorius.
They are trying to avoid
the speculation and debate that swirl around whether Pistorius
intentionally shot and killed his 29-year-old girlfriend or whether he
mistook her for an intruder. He's been charged with premeditated murder.
Mike Steenkamp said the
family has no plans to attend Pistorius' trial.
"We won't be present, I
can tell you that now," he said.
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That's because the family
wants to focus on Reeva.
"I have to concentrate on
her," Kim Martin explained. "I know that sounds crazy, but that's how I
get from day to day.
"It's easier to deal
with it if you don't concentrate on anything else other than the fact
that Reeva's not here, and at the end of the day, she's not coming
back."
Kim Martin and Reeva
Steenkamp were like sisters, she said, sharing every detail of their
lives. Reeva frequently stayed at her cousin's Cape Town home where Mike
Steenkamp says he can still picture Reeva in the kitchen, helping
prepare dinner.
Yet Martin said she only
met Pistorius once, at a seaside cafe. She and Steenkamp chatted,
catching up on their lives, as Martin settled her kids.
Her interaction that day
with Pistorius "wasn't long enough to form an opinion on his
personality."
"What I saw of him ...
he did seem like a nice guy," Martin said.
Before Reeva Steenkamp
started dating the man nicknamed "Blade Runner" for his lightning-fast
prosthetic legs, she was famous in her own right.
A law school graduate
with a vibrant personality, she had a slew of modeling gigs under her
belt and the striking, platinum-haired beauty had been gearing up for
her reality television debut.
Her growing exposure
brought more opportunities. She served as a presenter for FashionTV in
South Africa, was an FHM cover girl and was the face of cosmetics
company Avon.
FHM described her as a
"beautiful, intelligent and warm-hearted woman" who had a "wicked" sense
of humor.
"She was the kindest,
sweetest human being; an angel on earth," said Capacity Relations, the
agency that represented her.
Yet, despite her fame,
she was still her mother's baby girl, Mike Steenkamp recalled.
Reeva's uncle told the
story of when Oscar and Reeva were driving on a highway and Oscar, prone
to fast cars, was supposedly speeding.
"(Reeva) phoned her mum
and said ... 'Mum, Oscar's speeding,'" Steenkamp recalled. "So June took
the phone and said, 'Let me speak to Oscar.' And (she) said to Oscar,
'Hey listen, that's my precious, and my only daughter ... she's my
angel. And you'd better slow down or I will get the mafia onto you
afterwards.' And Reeva said afterwards, 'Mum, he slowed down.'"
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Steenkamp's cousin: Truth will come out
Now, Pistorius, 26, is
free on bail as he awaits trial. His next court date is scheduled for
June 4. Prosecutors say the track star killed his girlfriend after a
heated argument in the early morning hours of Valentine's Day.
Pistorius and his
attorneys insist he thought an intruder was hiding in a toilet room
inside the bathroom of his Pretoria home. He says he fired in a fit of
terror before realizing Steenkamp was inside.
"I'd like to ask Oscar
why he didn't lean over and touch my cousin first... and say 'are you
okay?' 'keep quiet,' 'I'm coming now,'" Kim Martin said, shortly after
her cousin's death.
As for what happens to
Pistorius, Mike Steenkamp said it doesn't matter. Nothing will bring
back their beloved Reeva.
But he does want one
thing: a chance to meet with Pistorius and forgive him.
"That way, I can find
more peace with the situation," he said, fighting back tears.
Steenkamp says it's his
Christian faith that prompts him to want to offer forgiveness. And he
wants to do it face to face, not through the media.
"Whatever the outcome, I
feel with my belief (that) if Christ could forgive me when he died on
the cross, why can't I?"
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