Oscar Pistorius: Full timeline of events on former Paralympian’s murder of Reeva Steenkamp after he is granted early release from prison on parole
- Full timeline of events on Oscar Pistorius’ murder of Reeva Steenkamp
Former Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has been granted early release from prison on parole.
The Paralympian has repeatedly refused to admit he callously killed Reeva Steenkamp during an angry and violent outburst and has stuck to his claim that it was an accident.
His failure to come clean despite his murder conviction led Reeva’s grief-stricken mother to brand him ‘a liar who I hate so much.’
But how exactly did the case unfold in the intervening decade? Could Oscar Pistorius be granted an early release from prison?
Read on below for a full timeline of events on Oscar Pistorius’ murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
2013
February 14 – Pistorius arrested at his home in Pretoria after shooting dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Oscar Pistorius, right, pictured in November 2012 with girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who he shot dead in their home in Pretoria while she was locked in the toilet, saying that he mistook her for a possible intruder
READ MORE: Oscar Pistorius WINS his bid for freedom: Paralympian who shot dead Reeva Steenkamp ten years ago is set to be released from jail after Christmas and will undergo therapy for ‘anger and gender-based violence’
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February 15 – Pistorius appears before the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court where he bursts into tears as prosecutors announce they intend to pursue a charge of premeditated murder.
February 17 – Pistorius’s agent says all future races he is contracted to compete in have been cancelled ‘to allow Oscar to concentrate on the upcoming legal proceedings’.
February 19 – Reeva Steenkamp’s funeral is held in Port Elizabeth. Pistorius appears in court for the first day of his bail hearing. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel says Pistorius fired four shots through a bathroom door, hitting Steenkamp three times. His defence reads a statement by Pistorius in which he says he thought Steenkamp was an intruder.
February 22 – Magistrate Desmond Nair grants Pistorius R1-million bail. Conditions include that Pistorius surrender his passport and any weapons in his possession.
March 11 – Lawyers for Pistorius file an appeal against bail restrictions imposed on him.
March 28 – Pistorius’s bail restrictions are eased by the Pretoria High Court, allowing him to leave South Africa if he wants to compete internationally, although he never ends up doing so.
Parents June Steenkamp (centre) and Barry Steenkamp (behind) arriving at the High Court for the final day
August 19 – The day on which Steenkamp would have turned 30, Pistorius appears in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court before magistrate Desmond Nair to have the state’s indictment served on him. He is charged with premeditated murder and possession of unlicensed ammunition. The state publishes its list of 107 possible witnesses.
2014
February 14 – On the anniversary of Steenkamp’s death, Pistorius posts a tribute to her on his official website, saying: ‘No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident that has caused such heartache for everyone who truly loved – and continues to love Reeva.’
February 25 – Judge Dunstan Mlambo grants broadcasters permission to film and audio record parts of the trial.
March 3 – Oscar Pistorius pleads not guilty in court to murder and three gun charges.
Later, neighbour Michelle Burger, the first witness called by the prosecution, tells the court she heard ‘blood-curdling’ screams before the sound of four gunshots on the night the Olympian killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
March 5 – Prosecutor Gerrie Nel says neighbour Charl Johnson received texts and calls after his telephone number was read out in court the previous day.
The judge had several options to choose from upon sentencing the Paralympic star
He described one voicemail message as saying: ‘Why are you lying in court? You know Oscar didn’t kill Reeva. It’s not cool.’
March 10 – Pistorius vomits repeatedly in the dock as he hears graphic details of the injuries sustained by the girlfriend he fatally shot.
March 11 – A witness describes how a ‘furious’ Pistorius fired a gun out of a car sunroof after being pulled over by police for speeding.
March 12 – Part of the crime scene is reconstructed in court as a forensic analyst demonstrates how Pistorius may have bashed a cricket bat on the door of his toilet to get to the girlfriend he had just fatally shot.
March 13 – Photographs of Pistorius’s bloodstained prosthetics, the alleged murder weapon and of the crime scene are shown.
March 17 – The manager of a South African gun training academy says the athlete had ‘a great love and enthusiasm’ for firearms.
Pistorius embraces his father Henke on arrival at court for the final day of the trial
March 19 – A police ballistics expert claims Ms Steenkamp was standing in a toilet cubicle and facing the closed door when she was hit in the right hip by the first of four bullets fired by Pistorius.
March 24 – Text messages between Pistorius and Ms Steenkamp are read to the court.
In them she states she was sometimes scared of him and complained about what she described as his short temper and jealousy in the weeks before he killed her.
March 25 – The following day, defence lawyer Barry Roux notes that the messages were a tiny fraction of roughly 1,700 that police Captain Francois Moller, a mobile phone expert, extracted from the couples’ devices.
Later that day, and in a rare comment, Pistorius says he is going through ‘a tough time’ as the prosecution case closes
March 28 – Judge Masipa delays proceedings until April 7 due to illness.
April 7 – The defence case opens. In a break from tradition, owing to illness, a pathologist is called as its first witness rather than the defendant.
When he takes to the stand later, an emotional Pistorius begins with an apology to Ms Steenkamp’s family.
He says: ‘There hasn’t been a moment since this tragedy happened that I haven’t thought about your family.’
April 8 – Pistorius breaks down in tears and howls while describing how he shot girlfriend Ms Steenkamp, forcing the court to adjourn.
Pistorius’ sister, Aimee, wipes tears from her eyes next to her aunt Lois while listening to testimony from Miss Steenkamp’s cousin, Kim Martin, during the sentencing hearing
April 9 – Giving evidence for a third day, Pistorius tells how his girlfriend ‘died while I was holding her’, describing how he put his fingers in her mouth to try to help her breathe and put his hand on her hip to try to stop bleeding from one of several gunshot wounds.
April 9 – Mr Nel begins cross-examination, showing a photograph of Ms Steenkamp’s bloodied head. He tells the defendant: ‘It’s time that you look at it.’
April 11 – Pistorius’s first week giving evidence ends with a dramatic exchange between Pistorius and Mr Nel about the moments before the shots were fired.
April 14 – There is another adjournment in court as the Olympian breaks down again while giving evidence.
April 15 – Re-examined by his own counsel, Pistorius recalls how he was ‘terrified’ that the person in the bathroom was an intruder.
‘I feared for my life. I was just scared,’ he says. ‘I was thinking about what could happen to me, to Reeva. I was just extremely fearful.’
April 16 – Judge Masipa announces the trial will adjourn until May 5, following a request for a break from Mr Nel.
Pistorius arriving at Pretoria High Court for sentencing on Tuesday morning in South Africa
May 5 – Upon resumption, Pistorius’s neighbour, Johan Stander, describes how he received an urgent call to help following the incident.
He says: ‘He (Pistorius) said on the call, ‘Johan, please, please, please come to my house. Please. I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder. Please come quick’.
May 8 – A social worker who visited Pistorius in the aftermath of the killing describes the murder suspect as ‘heartbroken’.
Yvette van Schalkwyk, who says she decided to give evidence at the trial because she was upset by suggestions reported in the media that Pistorius was feigning grief to sway the judge in his favour, adds: ‘He cried 80 per cent of the time.
‘He talked to me about what they planned for the future, his future with her.’
May 9 – A ballistics expert says his analysis of the scene where the Olympic athlete shot Ms Steenkamp differs from the reconstruction of the shooting by police investigators.
May 12 – Mr Nel says the athlete should be placed under psychiatric observation after an expert called by the defence said Pistorius has an anxiety disorder.
Pistorius (pictured on Friday) was sentenced on for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp
May 14 – The much-delayed trial receives another set back, as the judge orders the athlete to undergo psychiatric tests.
The case is delayed until until June 30 while he is observed as an outpatient at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.
May 26 – Pistorius arrives at the hospital for the first day of psychiatric tests.
June 30 – After a month-long break, the murder trial resumes when mental health experts state Pistorius was not suffering from a mental illness when he killed girlfriend Ms Steenkamp.
July 2 – Mr Roux reads a psychologist’s report which concludes Pistorius is severely traumatised and will become an increasing suicide risk unless he continues to get mental health care.
July 7 – Mr Nel challenges the credibility of a doctor who testifies that the athlete has an anxious nature linked to his disability.
July 8 – The defence team closes its case and the trial is adjourned.
August 7 – After a lengthy adjournment, closing arguments begin.
August 8 – Judge Masipa announces she will deliver her verdict on September 11.
September 11 – The judge acquits Pistorius of pre-meditated and second-degree murder. But she says he acted ‘negligently’ in the killing. The judge announces she will continue delivering her verdict, including on a charge of culpable homicide on September 12.
The 27-year-old was swarmed by armed police before learning his fate
September 12 – Pistorius found GUILTY of culpable homicide of Steenkamp. Also found guilty on one firearm charge of firing a gun in a restaurant.
October 13 – Pistorius returns to court as his sentencing hearing starts. He is described as a ‘broken man’ who showed ‘genuine remorse’ over the killing of Ms Steenkamp.
October 14 – Social worker claims prison would ‘break’ Pistorius but prosecution argues that he is being portrayed as a ‘poor victim’. Barry and June Steenkamp, the parents of Reeva, tell Pistorius to keep £21,000 sum he offered them, which is branded as ‘blood money’.
October 15 – Barry and June Steenkamp admit that they had accepted £6,300 from Pistorius after they fell into financial difficulty following their daughter’s death. But they also insist that they will return the money.
October 17 – Judge Masipa hears closing arguments. Defence claims Pistorius thought Steenkamp was an intruder and that he was not being ‘devious’ in killing her. Prosecution says that society demands a minimum 10 year prison sentence.
October 21 – Pistorius sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison, with a three-year suspended term for firearms offences.
2015
March 13 – A high court judge halts Pistorius’ bid to block prosecutors from appealing the culpable homicide verdict in favour of a murder conviction.
August 19 – South Africa’s justice minister blocks Pistorius’ expected release on parole after serving 10 months of his five-year sentence.
October 19 – Pistorius is released to house arrest to serve the rest of his sentence at his uncle’s home in a wealthy suburb of Pretoria.
December 3 – The Supreme Court of Appeal overturns the lower judge’s ruling and finds Pistorius guilty of murder, arguing he should have foreseen the possibility of killing someone when he fired the shots.
2016
July 6 – Pistorius is sent back to jail for six years, less than half the 15-year minimum term sought by prosecutors.
2017
November 24 – The Supreme Court of Appeal more than doubles Pistorius’ murder sentence to 13 years and five months, accepting state prosecutors’ argument that the original jail term was ‘shockingly lenient’.
2022
June 22 – Pistorius meets Steenkamp’s father as part of a victim-offender dialogue — an integral part of South Africa’s restorative justice programme that brings parties affected by a crime together in a bid to achieve closure.
Ms Steenkamp’s parents Barry and June originally forgave Pistorius, but now want him to spend life behind bars
2023
READ MORE: Reeva Steenkamp’s mother tells Oscar Pistorius parole hearing the Blade Runner robbed her of her ‘dearest child and my heartbroken husband’ as the killer learns today if he will be freed
February – Mr Steenkamp reveals that Pistorius broke down and ‘wailed like a child’ when he read out a heart-breaking letter from Reeva’s mother during their tense jail showdown.
Mr Steenkamp said at the time: ‘After all these years we are still waiting for him to admit he did it in anger. That is all we wanted.
‘If he told me the truth, he would have been a free man by now and I would have let the law take its course over his parole.
‘But I was wasting my time. He is a murderer. He should remain in jail.’
March 31 – Pistorius is denied parole at a hearing after it was ruled that he had not completed the necessary minimum detention period.
August 22 – Reeva Steenkamp’s parents mark what would have been her 40th birthday with a cake featuring the South African model’s face.
They wrote: ‘We celebrate and commemorate what would have been Reeva’s 40th birthday. Thank you for all the messages of love and support.’
September 14 – Reeva Steenkamp’s father Barry dies in his sleep aged 80.
September 20 – Documents from South Africa’s constitutional court show that Pistorius had served half of his sentence by 21 March 2023.
This sees him become eligible for parole, after his sentence was backdated to July 2016 instead of November 2017.
June Steenkamp (pictured in 2014) blasted Pistorius at his parole hearing saying he robbed her of her child and husband, as she believed Reeva’s father Barry died from a broken heart in September after ten years of grief
November 24 – A parole hearing is set to consider another chance for the possible early release of Pistorius.
Pistorius, 37, had long denied that he murdered Reeva in cold blood and shooting her was an accident as he believed there was an intruder in her home.
‘I do not believe Oscar’s version that he thought the person in the toilet was a burglar. In fact, I do not know anybody who does,’ Mrs Steenkamp tells the hearing.
‘My dearest child screamed for her life; loud enough for the neighbours to hear her. I do not know what gave rise to his choice to shoot through a closed door four times at somebody with hollow-point ammunition when I believe, he knew it was Reeva
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