Pretoria: The family of slain model Reeva Steenkamp have begged Oscar Pistorius to 'tell the truth' about the shooting when he appears in court tomorrow - as they prepare to bury her 600 miles away.
Their desperate plea comes as police focus their investigations on the 29-year-old's iPad amid concerns she received an early-hours message that may have sparked a row.
Miss Steenkamp's iPad was found on the bedroom floor - and this is now being checked by investigators along with both her and Pistorius' phone for any clues about her death.
The victim's family, who are holding her funeral in Port Elizabeth at the same time as the Blade Runner appears in court charged with murder, demanded to know why their 'beautiful angel' was blasted to death with his 9mm gun.
June Steenkamp, Reeva's mother said: 'All we want are answers ... answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this?'
But the mystery of her final moments deepened after the tragedy was recreated in a controversial 'cartoon' strip in South Africa.
The bizarre images suggest the model was shot in the hip in Pistorius' bedroom before being attacked and seeking refuge in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet seat.
Today it also emerged that sportswear brand Nike, one of the athlete's main sponsors, has no plans to use Oscar Pistorius in future ad campaigns.
This came as Miss Steenkamp's brother Adam, 36, called for the truth, telling reporters that the only person left alive who can say what happened is Pistorius.
Asked what could possibly be the motive behind his niece's murder, Reeva's uncle Mike Steenkamp said: 'The only person who can answer that is Reeva.' But her brother Adam said: 'Oscar'.
Adam Steenkamp, a 36-year-old father of two who works at the University of Cambridge, has flown back to his parent's home in South Africa to help deal with the crisis. Though he is Reeva's half brother, as they have different mothers, he said that they considered each other direct siblings.
Paying tribute to his sister as he suggested Oscar should 'tell the truth', he said: 'She was completely unpretentious. 'Her work had become lively and exciting, and she was travelling all the time. But she was really excited, because we’d decided she was going to come and see us soon. It’s a pity she won’t do that now. Knowing she will not be coming is very difficult'
This morning it was revealed that steroids were reportedly found at Blade Runner's luxury home where he is accused of murdering his girlfriend.
Police are investigating if Pistorius may have shot Miss Steenkamp in a fit of so-called 'steroid rage' - an explosion of aggression caused by performance-boosting steroids.
'Steroid drugs were found at Pistorius’s home together with evidence of heavy drinking. That’s why police have specifically ordered that he be tested for steroids,' a source told The Sun.
This morning the South African Police Service refused to respond to the claim, but sources close to the investigation had previously told a local paper that the steroid rage was one line of enquiry and that the star's blood was being tested for drugs.
Miss Steenkamp, 29, was shot four times early on Thursday at Pistorius’s luxury home in a secure housing estate on the outskirts of Pretoria.
Today City Press, a South African news website, published a colour graphic of what it believes unfolded at Pistorius’s home.
It shows a female silhouette throwing her hands in the air as she loses her balance while a male character, purported to be Pistorius, points a gun at her.
It also apparently depicts a blood-spattered cricket bat at the foot of the bed and shows bullet holes through a bathroom door.
The final scene shows the male figure carrying the female down the stairs with her arms and legs flailing loosely.
Police have rubbished speculation that Pistorius – who is known to have kept a pistol by his bed and a machine gun at his bedroom window – may have mistaken his girlfriend of three months for an intruder.
CCTV footage from the gated community showed Miss Steenkamp arriving at the complex shortly after 6pm on February 13, eNews Channel Africa reported.
Some in South Africa have speculated about the nature of Miss Steenkamp’s friendship with the South African national team rugby player Francois Hougaard, and whether this played a part in the tragedy.
The South African Times cited sources close to the police investigation as saying that social media messages including ones from Mr Hougaard might form part of the prosecution’s evidence at Mr Pistorius’ bail hearing at the Pretoria Central Magistrates tomorrow.
Across Twitter Mr Hougaard communicated with Miss Steenkamp before her death, and retweeted a picture of them together with friends after she died.
The 24-year-old was keen to distance himself from such reports at the weekend. His agent said: ‘This whole sad ordeal has got nothing to do with him.’
This morning it was reported that Pistorius accidentally discharged a gun in a busy Johannesburg restaurant - and nearly hit his friend's foot.
The Paralympic star visited a branch of the South African restaurant chain Tasha's with group of friends which included girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in January this year.
According boxer Kevin Lerena, who was also part of the dining party, Pistorius was given the gun by someone else in the group. He was examining the weapon when it suddenly went off, Mr Lerena claimed.
'I got a huge fright, because the bullet hit the ground just centimetres from my foot', Lerena told South Africa's Beeld newspaper.He went on: 'I must emphasise that the gun belonged to one of Pistorius' friends - I'm not going to mention his name.
'Oscar just wanted to look at the gun, and it sort of snagged on his pants, releasing the safety catch. A shot went off. I wouldn't call him negligent, it was just an accident. He apologised to me for days afterwards,' Mr Lerena reportedly said.
The restaurant's manager Jason Loupis has said that he heard a 'loud bang' but that when he went to investigate, everyone on the table denied it was them. I went to investigate when I heard the shot, but they all denied it,' said Mr Loupis.
Mr Loupis said he did not inform the police as he could not be certain that a gun was fired.
Reeva Steenkamp will be buried tomorrow - the same day Pistorius appears before Pretoria chief magistrate Desmond Nair for the start of what is expected to be a two day long bail application.
Mike Steenkamp, who speaks for Reeva's family, said: 'For now, we are just focusing on getting over the funeral ... on getting this part of the difficult journey behind us.
'We're trying not to think about Oscar or the court appearance. We have deliberately not watched TV or listened to the radio. We just don't want to think about it. We want to blank it all out and focus for now on the here and now,' he said.
Reeva Steenkamp's heartbroken mother has spoken of her pain for the first time and said that she wants 'answers'.
'She had so much of herself to give and now all of it is gone', June Steenkamp told a local newspaper, 'just like that, she is gone ... In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here.
'All we have is this horrendous death to deal with ... to get to grips with. All we want are answers ... answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this?'
Reeva Steenkamp's flatmate Gina Myers, refused to comment on her friend's relationship with Pistorius.
However she echoed the call for 'answers', saying: 'We want the truth to come out ... everyone to be honest about what happened'.South African police believe Pistorius may have beaten his girlfriend with a cricket bat before shooting her.
Yesterday it emerged that detectives are reported to have recovered a bloodied bat from the Paralympic champion’s bedroom and to have established that model Reeva Steenkamp’s skull had been ‘crushed’.
This and other evidence – a smashed bathroom door, a 9mm pistol, the peculiar pattern of wounds on the body and reports of a row earlier in the evening – is said to have led them to believe the murder case against the sprinter is ‘rock solid’.
Prosecutors have formally charged Pistorius with premeditated murder but the Blade Runner’s family say he firmly denies such a charge.
Pistorius is understood to have hired a heavyweight team of experts which include private detectives a pathologist who will conduct their own investigation into Miss Steenkamp's death.
But the economic toll of the tragedy is already being felt. A Nike advertisement showing Pistorius starting to sprint in his blades with the caption: 'I am the bullet in the chamber' has already been pulled, while Pistorius' website still shows logos and advertisements for the brand.
A spokesperson confirmed the shoe company's plans but declined to say whether Nike will remove any other current advertising that includes him.
Pistorius' agent insisted that his sponsors are still 'on board' and committed to the Paralympian as he announced that all upcoming races have been cancelled.
'All sponsors have given us their commitment towards Oscar, based on the relationships that they have formed with him over the past years,' said Peet van Zyl.
'They are quite happy to allow the legal process to take its course before they make any other further and formal announcements on it.'
Yesterday it emerged that Pistorius called his close friend Justin Divaris shortly after the killing – reportedly before the emergency services were alerted – and told him: ‘There has been a terrible accident, I shot Reeva.’
Mr Divaris rushed to the house, where he said Pistorius repeatedly told him: ‘My baba, I’ve killed my baba. God take me away.’
While no officials would comment publicly on the case, a disturbing – though disputed – picture of what may have happened in Pistorius’s home started to emerge.
Neighbours have said they heard shouting coming from the house at around 1.30am. There were some suggestions, quickly denied, that the row may have been about Miss Steenkamp’s friendship with a rugby player.
At around 3.20am, four shots rang out – apparently not all at once. The first person Pistorius called was his father Henke, 59.When he arrived, he allegedly saw his son carrying his nightie-clad girlfriend down the stairs.
She had been shot in the head, hip, arm and hand. Pistorius – and later paramedics – struggled in vain to save Miss Steenkamp’s life.
When the police inspected Oscar’s bedroom, they found Miss Steenkamp’s overnight bag and iPad on the floor and the bedclothes were crumpled.
'It was clear that both of them had slept in the bed,' a police source told City Press.Police reportedly found the bloodied cricket bat in the bedroom.
The en-suite bathroom door was riddled with holes, a pistol holster was found by Pistorius’s bed and a gun cartridge was on the floor.
South Africa’s City Press quoted an unnamed police source as saying: ‘The suspicion is that the first shot, in the bedroom, hit her in the hip. She then ran and locked herself in the toilet.
‘She was doubled over because of the pain. He fired three more shots. She probably covered her head, which is why the bullet also went through her hand.’
The source said police are carrying out tests to establish whose blood is on the bat.
While one scenario is that Pistorius attacked Miss Steenkamp with the wooden bat, it has also been claimed that the model may have used it to defend herself.
A third possibility is that Pistorius used it to break down the bathroom door. Those close to Pistorius have suggested that he may done so in a bid to ‘save’ his dying girlfriend.
According to this theory, the athlete first shot Miss Steenkamp by accident, whereupon she fled to the bathroom. He then shot at the door lock to try to get in, accidentally killing her.
In an interview Pistorius’s father Henke, appeared to suggest it is this version that he believes.While he admitted that he had not talked to his son in detail about what happened, he said he had ‘zero doubt’ that the sportsman thought Miss Steenkamp was an intruder.
Henke Pistorius has defended his son by attacking the way the incident has been reported.
'There is something fundamentally wrong with our society. We build people up into heroes, who overcome immense challenges, only to take great glee in breaking them down', he told South Africa's Times newspaper.
'I want to say this: We are realists, not fools. This is not going to be easy but Oscar is strong beyond his years.'
Experts say that if worldwide media reports are true, the Paralympian's legal team face an uphill struggle.
‘If what the media says is in fact the truth, I cannot see that any defense based on self-defense can, by any stretch of the imagination, succeed,’ said Eddie Classen, a partner at BDK Attorneys, one of South Africa's biggest criminal defense firms.
A more likely defence from Pistorius is to acknowledge that there was a row but that he did not intend to kill her.
Some in South Africa have speculated about the nature of Miss Steenkamp’s friendship with Springbok rugby player Francois Hougaard, and whether this played a part in the tragedy.
The 24-year-old was keen to distance himself from such reports at the weekend. His agent said: ‘This whole sad ordeal has got nothing to do with him.’Last night Pistorius’s agent said he had withdrawn him from all planned races but insisted his sponsors were sticking by him.
The tragedy has also cast fresh light on Pistorius’s apparent attraction to danger and weaponry.
As well as owning a pistol and machine gun, at the time of Miss Steenkamp’s death he reportedly had seven outstanding firearm licence applications.One was for same type of assault rifle used in the recent Sandy Hook school massacre in the US.
Pistorius, who was charged with premeditated murder at a court appearance on Friday, spent the weekend in a police cell ahead of a second hearing planned for tomorrow at which his lawyers are expected to ask for bail.Police say they will oppose the request.
'I LOOK FORWARD TO GETTING MY BOY BACK ON TRACK,' SAYS COACHOscar Pistorius' coach of nine years have spoken of his ‘shock’ following the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp and said he is looking forward to ‘getting his boy back on the track’.
Speaking on the evening of Pistorius’ second court appearance Ampie Louw said he was heartbroken to hear of the death of ‘delightful, friendly and committed’ Miss Steenkamp as he branded the shooting an ‘accident’.
‘I am still in shock following the heart-breaking events that occurred last week and my thoughts and prayers are with both of the families involved.
'I had spent some time with Reeva recently after being introduced to her by Oscar, giving her training tips and advice and she would often be at the track with me whilst Oscar was training,’ Mr Louw said.
‘I found her to be delightful, very friendly and, like Oscar, committed to her training and I found the two of them to be very happy in each other’s company.
‘I have been Oscar’s coach for nine years, since the very beginning, discovering his talent when he looked to seek ways to rehabilitate from his rugby knee injury.
'In my 35 years of coaching, never have I worked with an athlete who has such an incredible work ethic and treats every training session very seriously and has the focus, the commitment and the talent that every coach dreams for.
‘I pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my boy back on the track.’
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE REMEMBERED AS THE GIRLFRIEND:' OPEN LETTER FROM REEVA'S FELLOW REALITY SHOW STARPhuti Khomo was in Jamaica with Reeva Steenkamp for the filming of the Tropika Island of Treasure reality show which aired this weekend.
The actress and model has written an open letter to Reeva Steenkamp and posted it on City Press.
Lines included:
* 'Many people don’t know that the dream of becoming a model first came to you while lying paralysed in the hospital for months, after a back injury incurred while horse riding '
* 'You too were a very crazy, messed up girl with the most extraordinary sense of humour. Which was very unexpected coming from the kind, loving, humble soul that you were.'
* 'Every time I read the papers or watch the news, the story always starts with “Oscar Pistorius’ girlfriend.” No! I refuse to let that be your title. You are not going to be remembered as the “the girlfriend”' # Source: The Daily Mail
