TEXT MESSAGES OSCAR Pistorius sent to his model girlfriend show the track star was by turns controlling and extremely apologetic to the woman he would later kill.
The messages, sent in January on WhatsApp, were revealed during Pistorius’ murder trial in South African court.
Pistorius shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp in his house on 14 February 2013. He denies that he murdered her, claiming he fired four shots through a locked bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.
In one of the messages Steenkamp sent to Pistorius, she says she’s “scared of [him] sometimes.”
Eyewitness News reporter Barry Bateman tweeted screenshots of two of the messages. The first is from Steenkamp, sent on Jan. 26, 2013:
(Source: Twitter/ Barry Bateman)
Steenkamp's message suggests that Pistorius got angry with her for "flirting" with another man at a party, and she says she feels like she's living in a "double standard relationship."
She also tells Pistorius that he has "picked on [her] incessantly" and complains about things like how she talks and chews gum.
Pistorius' apologetic response is below:
(Source: Twitter/ Barry Bateman)
In another text Steenkamp sent on Feb. 7, 2013, she tells Pistorius that she was hoping to make him proud in a certain social situation, but he criticised her loudly.
Police did note that 90 per cent of the messages they discovered between Steenkamp and Pistorius were normal and loving.
There will be a break in the trial in April, and it will continue 16 May according to the Associated Press.
- Pamela Engel
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say