One Tragic Night (25 page)

The external exam was thus concluded and the team prepared to dissect the body. A study of the wounds would show that while some of the projectile that entered her head had exited Reeva's skull, a significant portion destroyed her brain. The bone was significantly damaged. ‘There are multiple further irregular and linear cracks or fractures involving the right temporal and parietal bones.'

Cracks permeated from the site where the bullets had made holes in Reeva's head, making their way down to the base and over the top of her skull.

Her brain was removed. ‘A deformed irregular and jagged projectile is found to be lodged within the inner table, in the base of the right occipital fossa,' remarked Saayman.

‘This projectile has a predominantly black metal jacket with jagged sharp protrusions which partially surround and irregular lead core.' The pathologist recognised the bullet as Black Talon ammunition. In 15 000 autopsies, the professor has seen this all too often given the high instances of gun-related crime in South Africa, where nearly 50 people are killed each day. The ammunition used in this instance explained the damage to the young woman's body. The fragments were removed and handed over to the police as evidence.

The professor inspected Reeva's nasal area, mouth, tongue, neck and throat
and found no tissue damage, a point he recorded in his notes. Despite bruises under the right breast of the deceased, Saayman found no deep injuries to the chest and no abnormalities to the airway and oesophagus.

There was, however, haemorrhaging within the inner wall of one of the chambers of the heart, but this is commonly seen in patients who have suffered severe head trauma or sudden major blood loss. Reeva's liver was pale – another sign of massive blood loss.

The team removed Reeva's stomach, placing it in a stainless steel dish. It spilt its contents – a light-green soup of dark green, orange and red chunks. ‘Vegetables,' remarked the professor. The time-of-death entry on the certificate accompanying the body noted that Reeva had died some time after 3am. Saayman believed that the partially digested food in her stomach – which he could identify – could not have been consumed more than two hours prior to her death. This finding would be crucial to the state's case, and prompt the defence to call two expert witnesses to refute the pathologist's conclusion in this regard; however, Perumal, who was present at the autopsy, was not one of the experts called.

A study of her bladder showed that it contained no more than a few millilitres of urine.

A dissection of the hip wound revealed major damage. ‘There is very extensive soft tissue haemorrhage and hematoma formation in the pelvic area.'

The pathologist switched to using a fluoroscope, a specially designed light used to highlight projectile particles, which revealed that the bullet had disintegrated after hitting Reeva's hipbone. Tiny pieces, varying from 1 mm to 3 mm, littered the hip region, where it shattered the bone and tore away flesh. As a result, Saayman decided it was impractical even to attempt to collect the bits of steel from the body.

The professor concluded, instructing officials to stitch up the body. Reeva would soon be released to her family.

The weekend newspapers had a field day. The Saturday papers dropped with an image of Oscar covering his face in court. The picture was thought to be a violation of the court order restricting photographs being taken while the court was in session. The lens man, Antoine de Ras from
The Star
newspaper, had snapped the image from outside the courtroom through a porthole-like window in the door and uploaded it before he had learnt of the order. More than a year later, De Ras won Journalist of the Year in the Sikuvile Journalism Awards for his picture titled, ‘Oscar Weeps'. In his motivation for the entry, he said, ‘I shot a frame of Pistorius in the moment he stood in the dock for the very first time, overcome by emotion. My photo was legitimate and righteous. Taken before the prohibition order and indeed before the court was in session, meaning I wasn't in danger of being in contempt.' There was, however, frustration amongst the journalists that they could be barred from court for violating the rules. Oscar's legal team was also considering legal action as a result of the pictures.

Oscar's father, Henke, whom he'd snubbed a day earlier, was interviewed by the London
Daily Telegraph.
It was one of several reports using him as a source before the family and their PR team stepped in and silenced him.

Oscar and his father shared a tumultuous relationship and were not close. Henke said the Pistorius family had zero doubt that Oscar shot dead Reeva thinking she was an intruder.

‘When you are a sportsman, you act even more on instinct,' he told the newspaper. ‘It's instinct – things happen and that's what you do.'

Controversially, he also blamed the country's high crime rate and the ANC government for his son's actions and to justify why the Pistorius family owned more than 55 guns.

‘Some of the guns are for hunting and some are for protection, the handguns. It speaks to the ANC government, look at white crime levels, why protection is so poor in this country, it's an aspect of our society,' he said. ‘You can't rely on the police, not because they are inefficient always but because crime is so rife.'

He said he personally had never had to use a gun in self-defence, but added: ‘That doesn't mean I haven't been hijacked, attacked. As a family, we value life much too much to produce guns at every opportunity we can use them. I have been in positions where I can use a gun but we have been brought up in a way that we value the lives of others very highly.'

The Pistorius family swiftly issued a statement distancing Oscar from his father's comments and the ANC was similarly quick to respond, criticising the remarks.

In the meantime, the Steenkamp family was also being asked to comment on the court proceedings and the incident.

‘We do not want to speculate about what happened,' Reeva's uncle Mike Steenkamp was quoted as saying to
Beeld
newspaper. ‘We would rather pay attention to the criminal process which will take its course now. We are a religious family. And if you believe in God, then you know justice will be in his hand,' he said.

The gunshot-riddled door and the bloodied cricket bat featured prominently in the weekend papers. According to the
City Press
report, ‘a source with inside knowledge of the case' confirmed that police were investigating three possible scenarios following the discovery of the cricket bat. The first was that Oscar used the bat to ‘viciously assault' Reeva; the second was that Reeva used the bat to defend herself from her enraged lover; and the third scenario was that the bat was used to break down the toilet door, which Reeva had locked. The report also claimed that investigators had specifically requested that the athlete's blood be tested for drugs and steroids.

Rumours were also raging amongst journalists that investigators had found steroids in Oscar's room. A tip-off had come in that cops had found performance-enhancing drugs and syringes in a drawer in the bedroom.

The implications were huge. If this were indeed true, it would fit into the so-called roid-rage version of events being bandied about in the tabloid media: that the Blade Runner was pumped up on steroids and lost his temper. None of the rumours could be confirmed, though, and despite the pressure for a scoop, local journalists kept their distance from the rumour.

Monday morning, however, broke with a UK tabloid ‘exclusive': ‘Steroids found at Blade Runner's mansion – cops find bloodied cricket bat too' was the headline in
The Sun.

According to the reporter's ‘source close to the investigation', officers found banned steroid drugs in the athlete's home, as well as evidence of heavy drinking before the shooting. The report further claimed that police were now investigating the possibility that ‘Pistorius may have blasted Reeva in an explosion caused by the performance-boosting steroids' – and they were investigating whether the murder suspect was ‘in the grip of roid-rage', a side-effect of high doses of the outlawed drugs.

More theories as to what exactly had happened that morning emerged in media reports in the days leading up to the first court appearance.
The Sun
suggested that Oscar had first shot Reeva in the bedroom, that she fled to the toilet where she locked herself in and was then shot a further three times: ‘Police now believe the first shot was fired at her in the master bedroom – hitting her hip as she fled to the bathroom. Wounds to the top of her head suggest that as she sat doubled up in pain on the toilet she was hit three more times by bullets that ripped through the door.'

The bloodied cricket bat also appeared in this version, but now with claims that Reeva had sustained ‘skull crush injuries', suggesting that her head was smashed in with the bat.

By this time the rumour had also emerged that Reeva had apparently received a text message from Blue Bulls rugby player Francois Hougaard. The pair had previously dated before she started going out with Oscar. This text message was alleged to have angered Oscar, and was what started the fight that led to the shooting. There was, however, no official comment or evidence to back up this theory and phone records would later dispute it.

While speculation gathered momentum, Oscar was preparing for his bail application in his cell at the Brooklyn police station. As police stations go, Brooklyn is one of the better ones. It serves the affluent community of Waterkloof and the predominantly student-inhabited area of Hatfield. The station commander is the no-nonsense, old-guard Brigadier André Wiese.

Over the weekend a pastor – uninvited – visited the athlete, as did some family members. Oscar's manager Peet van Zyl also went to see him to offer his support and discuss his immediate racing future. Van Zyl had been Oscar's manager for seven years and they had a strong bond. The pair took the significant decision to cancel all races Oscar had been booked to compete in, including Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Van Zyl told reporters that Oscar's sponsors at that time supported his client, and that they were happy to let the legal process take its course before taking a decision on whether or not to retain him as a brand ambassador. But despite Van Zyl's apparent optimism about Oscar's potential future, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he would never be able to return to his former glory and things would never again be as they once were.

The black Mercedes-Benz hearse pulled up outside the white, weather-beaten chapel at the Victoria Park Crematorium in Port Elizabeth. Personnel from Doves Funeral Services took their positions on either side of the coffin holding Reeva Steenkamp's body and carried it through to a side entrance. It was draped in a cloth and an arrangement of white flowers was perched on top. Slight cloud gathered overhead as the so-called friendly city's ubiquitous wind whistled through the trees.

By request from family members, journalists retreated beyond a boundary wall, a distance from the tranquil setting of the memorial service. They watched as mourning friends, relatives and the occasional celebrity walked the path to the chapel. Reeva's parents were embraced as they moved slowly into the building. Not far behind them was Gina Myers, her sister and parents, Reeva's ‘adopted' Johannesburg family.

Most notable amongst the celebrities was rugby player Francois Hougaard, in a dark suit and with sunglasses shielding his eyes. Hougaard's appearance caused a stir amongst media curious about weekend reports around the potential text message that might have ignited a row between Oscar and Reeva. Radio DJ Thato Sikwane, popularly known as DJ Fresh on 5FM, was amongst the mourners. The ANC Women's League was also present, and Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor and Women's League provincial secretary Nancy Sihlwayi came out to support the victim's family. ‘The city is in grief, a little angel is no more,' she told reporters before controversially remarking that Oscar should not receive bail and that he ‘must die in jail'.

Following the event, Reeva's uncle, Mike, and her half-brother, Adam, addressed reporters, saying that her death had left a void in the family. Her uncle
struggled under the weight of the moment, breaking down in tears as he spoke about how his niece would be missed at family gatherings. ‘Like the pastor said, we will keep Reeva in our hearts forever,' he said. He confirmed that Reeva's ashes would be scattered by her family at a private ceremony in the future.