While Oscar Pistorius was being sentenced to five years in prison, Denise Goldin was thinking about her son Brett, who would have been celebrating his 37th birthday on the same day.
Goldin, who lived through the media frenzy and court proceedings after her son's murder with his friend Richard Bloom in Cape Town in 2006, says the Pistorius trial has opened old wounds.
"I just felt on Tuesday that with it being Brett's birthday, I was very tuned into the whole emotion of the sentencing," she said. "The wounds heal, but the scarring stays forever."
She said high-profile court cases "take you back in time until you can't help but feel emotionally involved".
"Without thinking about it, you are absorbing pain for those families because you have walked that path yourself."
She described how the public engagement with court cases could have a dual effect on a grieving family.
"On the one hand, the media coverage means these crimes cannot be swept under the carpet. When the media is not involved, cases and dockets and evidence will just go missing, and there are thousands of cold cases."
The extensive coverage of the case also meant that support came flooding in.
"I gained a lot of my strength through this ordeal from the compassion of others," she said.
On the other hand, the negative side of the details of the case meant that they could not protect the privacy of their loved ones whom they were grieving.
"The media coverage encourages a voyeurism amongst the public, but for us it is like the private world of someone we love has been trampled upon," she said.
On Sunday, Goldin celebrated Brett's birthday as usual with family and friends.
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