Let the hurting stop

22 October 2014 - 02:17 By Graeme Hosken
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YOUNG INNOCENT: Reeva Steenkamp at 19 poses for photographer and close friend Kerry Smith at Sardinia Bay in Port Elizabeth. The down-to-earth young woman, who later went on to become a top model, was passionate about the need to combat domestic violence
YOUNG INNOCENT: Reeva Steenkamp at 19 poses for photographer and close friend Kerry Smith at Sardinia Bay in Port Elizabeth. The down-to-earth young woman, who later went on to become a top model, was passionate about the need to combat domestic violence
Image: Kerry Smith/ Greatstock/Barcroft media

Vengeance, pain, heartache and brokenness. All of that must end, and it must end now. It must stop with this trial.

In a pitiful plea, June Steenkamp called for the hurting to stop.

She made the appeal shortly before flying home to Port Elizabeth following the sentencing yesterday of Oscar Pistorius to five years in prison for killing her daughter, Reeva.

Though he must spend at least 10 months behind bars at the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, he will, according to correctional services officials, be prepared for possible release from April.

According to the Correctional Services Department website, Pistorius must serve a sixth of his sentence [10 months] before being placed under correctional supervision, continuing to serve out the remainder under house arrest and doing community service.

June Steenkamp said: "It's a short sentence, but I know that in some way he will pay.

''This is not about vengeance. That's not what Reeva was about. She, like us, would have wanted this pain to be over.

"We just want this pain to stop. We don't want him or anyone else [involved in this case] to hurt any more.

"Reeva, like us, would have wanted her memory to be honoured, for something positive to come from this and we are going to be doing that."

Steenkamp said the family would build shelters for abused women across South Africa in Reeva's memory. "We are doing this so women, in our daughter's name, can be taken care of and learn to laugh and smile again. It's what Reeva would have wanted."

Steenkamp's father, Barry, said earlier: "We are glad that in some way this is over . over in the sense that this trial has ended.

"But in some ways it's not . We will never see her smile again, hear her laugh or get to see her for Christmas, but this has to stop. We have to carry on, even if it's just one day at a time."

Judge Thokozile Masipa also sentenced Pistorius to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for the negligent discharge of a firearm in a restaurant at Melrose Arch, Johannesburg last year. The sentences will run concurrently.

Reading out her detailed sentence, Masipa criticised the defence witnesses who testified in mitigation of sentence. They had recommended that, because of Pistorius's disabilities, correctional supervision, community service and house arrest were appropriate.

"There is no reason to believe Pistorius [through his disabilities] would present the department [Correctional Services] with insurmountable challenges. We cannot, at the end of the day, create the impression of having one law for the rich and famous and another for the poor," she said.

"Nothing I say today can reverse the loss of life, and while a long sentence lacks elements of mercy, the circumstances and degree of negligence are so serious that a suspended sentence, which would cause distrust in the justice system, would be inappropriate," she said.

Zebulon Monama, the area commissioner at Kgosi Mampuru II prison, told The Times that within seven months Pistorius would be prepared for release on correctional supervision.

"Yes, he has to serve 10 months but well before that he's prepared for release."

Pistorius's conviction, sentence and now potential early release have left the National Prosecuting Authority fuming. Spokesman Nathi Mncube said though satisfied with the prosecution team's work, the NPA was unhappy with the culpable homicide conviction.

"We have noted the sentence but haven't made up our minds whether we will appeal yet .

"We always argued for a custodial sentence and Pistorius will serve a portion of his sentence behind bars. However, it is not for us, but rather the Correctional Services Department, to decide on when he will be released."

The possibility of an appeal by the state, which must be made within 14 days, was announced as Pistorius's uncle Arnold Pistorius slammed the prosecutors.

"From the beginning, the state tried to force a puzzle into a position of premeditated murder, where it didn't fit. When they realised that the facts didn't fit, they changed their stance to a mosaic, where anything can opportunistically fit anywhere.

"In the process, they decided to inflict as much collateral damage as they could by keeping the cloud of premeditated murder over this case. One of the most distressing parts of this trial is how the truth became totally irrelevant in the state's attempts to make the premeditated murder charge stick."

He said Pistorius would embrace the opportunity to pay back to society.

"I hope Oscar will start his own healing process as he now treads the path of restoration ."

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