All language subtitles for How It Really Happened s08e04 Oscar Pistorius.eng

[audio logo]

[suspenseful music]

[dramatic music]

Hello, and welcome toHow It Really Happened .

I'm Jesse L. Martin.

The shocking shooting death of
Reeva Steenkamp at the hands

of Olympic superstar
Oscar Pistorius

pulled the curtain back
on the storybook romance

of a favorite celebrity couple.

It started as a charming
love affair between a world

famous athlete and a fashion
model with brains and beauty

and ended with four
hollow point bullets fired

through the bathroom door.

Tonight, was it a terrible
accident or a callous murder?

This is How It Really Happened .

[suspenseful music]

[cheers, applause]

SCOTT RODER: If you take the
celebrity of LeBron James

and you combined it with the
appeal of Leonardo DiCaprio,

that was what Oscar
Pistorius was.

REPORTER: He is known
as the Blade Runner,

the fastest man with no legs.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE: He was strong.
He was fast.

He was explosive.

REPORTER: A moment of history
to see the first Paralympian

competing in track and field
at an able-bodied games,

and he got through
his 400 meters heat.

JOHN CARLIN: Oscar Pistorius
was at the absolute peak of his

celebrity, wealth, and success.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE:
Oscar was named

South Africa's Sexiest Man.

And it wasn't only the looks.

It was this persona
that he exuded.

He was enormously likeable.

OSCAR PISTORIUS: Being an
international sportsman,

there's a lot of responsibility
that comes with that.

So having to toggle that and
remembering that there are kids

out there especially
that look up to you

is definitely something
that you need to keep

at the back of your mind.

Oscar, at that point,
was one of the most

famous athletes in the world.

It's just been one of
the most unbelievable

experiences of my life.

RANDI KAYE: It was a few months
after the London Olympics

when Oscar Pistorius
met Reeva Steenkamp.

REPORTER: Reeva Steenkamp,
a model and law school

graduate who recently
appeared on the cover

of the men's magazine FHM.

You're putting me on the spot.

RANDI KAYE: I mean, she was this
beautiful up and coming model.

She had this great
compassion for social issues.

And they were just
a striking couple.

Hi.

I'm Oscar's date tonight.

He needed a date
at the last minute.

So it's like, Reeva, just throw
your stuff together, and come

and be my date.

MANDY WIENER: Their
friends and their circle

knew that the relationship had
developed very, very quickly.

RANDI KAYE: After Oscar and
Reeva had their first date,

there was this
huge Sunday spread

about them in South Africa.

And people were really
just enamored with the idea

of their relationship.

Oscar's agent asked
him about Reeva.

Are you serious
about this girl?

And his reaction was, yes, I am.

I am very serious
about this girl.

He made it very clear that
they were very much in love.

REPORTER: Her last tweet on
the 13th of February said,

"What do you have up your
sleeve for your love tomorrow?"

In a Valentine's card
to Oscar Pistorius,

Reeva wrote, "I think
today is a good day

to tell you that I love you."

RANDI KAYE: Oscar described
the night of February 13

as really just a very normal
night for the two of them.

Reeva Steenkamp arrived
at Oscar Pistorius's home,

and you see her on
camera arriving.

And she has a great
big smile on her face.

[soft music]

They had had dinner.

They went to bed
around 10 o'clock.

Oscar was on his phone.

At some point, Reeva went on
the floor and was doing yoga.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE:
According to Oscar,

their relationship was
in a very good place.

It was deepening.

They were in love.

They had just had
a great evening.

And then they go to sleep.

[foreboding music]

RANDI KAYE: A few hours
later, Oscar Pistorius

hears this frightening noise.

[bang]

Early in the morning
of February the 14th,

the neighbors woke up
to, bah-bah-bah, bah-bah.

[tense music]

RANDI KAYE: The first
people who arrived

found a really gruesome scene.

ROBYN CURNOW: They
saw a man carrying

a woman down the stairs,
and he was hysterical.

He laid her body at the bottom
of the stairs on the tiles.

JOHN CARLIN: He was bathed
in blood and shrieking

and howling and crying.

Oscar Pistorius
tried to save her.

Others there tried to save her.

But there was nothing that
they could do for her.

We begin this hour with
breaking news from South Africa.

RANDI KAYE: People
all over the world

woke up to this tragic news.

Nobody could believe it.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE: So unexpected.

They shoot this beautiful,
promising young woman

and kill her.

It's awful.

REPORTER: The shooting
took place behind the walls

of this gated community.

Oscar Pistorius,
a double amputee,

invited CNN into the
house a few years ago

and showed us his
prosthetic legs.

But it was somewhere
in this house

that Pistorius allegedly
fired a pistol.

ROBYN CURNOW: There was early
rumblings that Oscar Pistorius

thought she was an intruder.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE: It
wasn't like the first time

that he had mistakenly
thought there

was an intruder in his house.

Oscar had a gun under his
bed and seemingly quite

frequently was always
hearing noises in his house

and thinking that he had to
go look around with his gun.

I thought it was obsessive how
unsafe he felt in his home.

But he was not the
only person in South

Africa or extended Johannesburg
that would have felt that way.

ROBYN CURNOW: It is
a rational, real fear

that you can be attacked in your
home in the middle of the night.

RANDI KAYE: Early on,
there were reports

that maybe this
just was a tragedy,

just an innocent accident.

BARRY BATEMAN: But the
police came out and totally

destroyed that version.

As far as they were
concerned, they

were investigating a murder.

There has previously
been incidents

at the home of Mr. Oscar
Pistorius of allegations

of domestic nature.

MANDY WIENER: Hang on a second.

Could he have
intentionally killed her?

ROBYN CURNOW: Was
Oscar a woman beater?

And now he had killed
his girlfriend?

RANDI KAYE: All of a
sudden, the coverage

flipped from
accident to homicide.

REPORTER: Oscar Pistorius, as
of now, is at a police station.

We started to hear reports
about performance-enhancing

drugs or steroids being found.

And then that just
started all kinds of rumors.

People started to believe that
this possibly was some sort

of steroid-induced homicide.

ROBYN CURNOW: Almost
immediately, Oscar's brand,

his image crumbled.

SCOTT RODER: He went from this
handsome, tall, Olympian, gold

medal-winning icon to a pariah.

I'll never forget that Oscar
Pistorius was on this billboard.

It was advertising an
Oscar campaign, said,

"Every night is 'Oscar' night."

Within a few hours of
the story breaking,

they started rolling
down the billboard.

ROBYN CURNOW: He'd
been the face of Nike.

And the tagline had been, "I
am the bullet in the chamber."

That came down pretty quickly.

REPORTER: This is a man who is
usually basking in the glory

of his achievements.

Today, he was hiding
his face from the world.

RANDI KAYE: There
was a great sadness

around the world
and a great sadness

certainly within South Africa.

REPORTER: Of course, now facing
a possible jail term for murder.

[suspenseful music]

Just please let us
make-- let us-- let us--

ROBYN CURNOW: I had very
sharp elbows that day.

And I literally physically
got myself into the courtroom.

It was a zoo.

RANDI KAYE: He not only had to
make his way through a gauntlet

of media, but then he had
to answer to the charges

against him for the first time.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE:
The Oscar in court

was not the Oscar that
anyone had ever seen.

MANDY WIENER: He looked
hollow and just totally broken

by what he had experienced.

REPORTER: The world-renowned
Olympian Oscar

Pistorius has been
charged with murder

in the death of his girlfriend.

RANDI KAYE: The state
believed that this

was premeditated murder.

One of the leading
witnesses for the state

said that they had
found what they

described as a suspicious
substance next to the bed.

KELLY PHELPS: That they had
found an illegal substance

with needles.

And clearly, the
suggestion there

was that he was in some sort
of testosterone-fueled rage.

[tense music]

ROBYN CURNOW: The main
investigating officer

testified that the neighbors
had heard terrible screams

before the gunshots.

The state believed that that
meant that Oscar Pistorius would

have known that Reeva
Steenkamp was there,

possibly hiding in
that bathroom cubicle,

and that there was some type of
heated argument going on just

before the shooting occurred.

They said that Oscar
had picked up his gun.

He had walked about seven
meters to a bathroom,

where his girlfriend
was locked inside.

And he had shot four
bullets through there

as she was hit three times.

Oscar denied the charges that
this was murder of any kind.

KELLY PHELPS: The defense
provided an extremely

thorough affidavit from Mr.
Pistorius explaining his version

of what happened that night.

RANDI KAYE: Oscar Pistorius
said in the early morning hours,

he had opened the balcony
doors to bring the fans in.

He believed Reeva was in bed.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE:
And this is when

he hears the noise,
as he tells it,

that he believes is an intruder.

SCOTT RODER: He felt his life
and Reeva's life were in danger.

RANDI KAYE: So he quickly
grabbed his 9 millimeter

handgun, he said, which
was next to the bed,

and moved through the dark.

ROBYN CURNOW: And he walked
on his stumps yelling,

get the eff out of my house.

Get the eff out of
my house, yelling.

ACTOR AS OSCAR: Get out
of my [bleep] house!

Get out!

He ascertains that
someone's behind the bathroom

door, which is locked--

[creaking]

--and fires four shots
through the door.

[gunshots]

ROBYN CURNOW: He said that
he went back into the bedroom

and realized Reeva
was not in bed

and had a sinking feeling that
she might be in the toilet.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE: He puts
on his prosthetic legs.

He fetches his cricket bat.

SCOTT RODER: He runs
back into the bathroom

and starts beating the bathroom
door with the cricket bat

until he's able
to open the door.

And he sees Reeva
bleeding on the ground

by the side of the toilet.

REPORTER: Pistorius was sobbing
through the entire bail hearing.

His side, though, the defense
attorney said that the shooting

was not premeditated.

He said that Pistorius shot
his girlfriend believing

that she was a burglar.

REPORTER: Still,
so many unanswered

questions, such
as, how did Reeva

enter the bathroom unnoticed?

What people didn't believe
is that you claim that you're

defending not only
yourself but the woman

that you love from
this intruder,

but you don't
confirm where she is.

She was lying next
to you in the bed.

How can you not know that
she's no longer there?

Would you not check where she
is before you go and fetch

a firearm and go and use it?

Why had she locked the door?

Did she think there was
an intruder in there,

or was she trying to protect
herself from Oscar Pistorius?

The world was divided
over this story,

and there were people
who really believed him,

really wanted to believe him.

And other people thought
they did have a fight,

and he had this dark, angry
side and had a temper.

But the point of these
early court proceedings

was to decide if Oscar
Pistorius could get out on bail.

Of course, we are
all talking about it.

Oscar Pistorius out of jail.

The Olympic track star granted
bail today in Pretoria.

[soft music]

I know my brother,
and I know his fears.

There has been a consistent
theme in his life--

being safe-- that
has always been

a concern because of the
practical vulnerabilities

that he has.

JOHN CARLIN: Oscar
Pistorius was born in 1986.

It was discovered that he
had this congenital deformity

of his feet.

And his two legs were
amputated just below the knee.

ROBYN CURNOW: He was very
brave in terms of breaking

physical boundaries.

I grew up in a family where
disability was never an issue,

not because it was a
topic that was taboo,

but it was just never an issue.

[light music]

JOHN CARLIN: And he
becomes a superstar

in the world of Paralympics.

And he's good-looking.

He's got a certain Greek
god kind of demeanor.

I think he saw
himself as superhuman.

And, you know, look,
it was well earned.

I mean, he achieved
these things on the track

that no one could
believe he achieved.

And that must be a
really, really powerful

thing to feel when
you are born or have

the disability that he had.

Behind that public persona,
Oscar did have a very

real physical limitation.

ROBYN CURNOW: Because
off his prosthetics,

he is a fundamentally disabled
man who can barely walk.

He almost looked scared
because he was vulnerable.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE: I
did sense paranoia.

You know, for someone
who saw himself

as so physically accomplished,
he was also afraid.

ROBYN CURNOW: This is
not the person that he

wanted to share with the world.

He hid that vulnerability.

But in the end,
that is who he was.

Do I prefer a clean-shaven
man or the rugged camel man?

Hmm.

I'd probably go
for the rugged guy.

I don't like a man who
takes longer than me

in the bathroom to get ready.

No.

[gentle music]

They phoned me at
6:00 AM, and they said,

do you have a daughter Reeva?

Said, she's passed away.

It was the worst day of my life.

I was hysterical.

I just wanted to die
myself, honestly.

I-- I didn't want
to live without her.

Everybody I spoke
to about Reeva

loved her, across the board.

I'm at the Lady Gaga concert.

I wasn't going to come, and then
I got roped in two days ago.

So I had to kind of, like,
throw something together.

JUNE STEENKAMP: She was such
a blessing, a gift from God.

Very clever and always
laughing, always laughing.

RANDI KAYE: She came from
a really close-knit family.

Her father was a horse trainer.

Her mother ran a
restaurant at the track.

They spent a lot
of time together.

CHARLEEN HOFFMAN: She really
cared about her parents

and absolutely loved them.

KIM MARTIN: When
you were with her,

you were like-- you
felt like you were

a teenager because she was just
so vibrant, so full of life,

so bouncy.

She was just always
laughing, joking, fun.

[shouts]

Yeah, it's crazy out here.

She could get on with anyone.

She was 14 when she
started modeling.

She wasn't very tall.

She didn't have her blonde hair.

But she loved it.

MARK WEST: I met Reeva Steenkamp
because she had entered

a talent search
competition that I was

the official photographer for.

She was a very special
person right from the start.

And her smile just
lit up the room.

I don't know how to explain it.

Some people have just
got that X factor,

and she was one of those.

RANDI KAYE: She was stunning.

But she had some smarts, too.

She went on to get her
law degree as well.

She had a real
passion when it came

to the issue of domestic
abuse, domestic violence.

She really wanted
to elevate that.

JUNE STEENKAMP: She wanted
to be a public figure,

and then she would be
able to help people.

MARK WEST: She
transformed herself

to an absolute stunning blonde.

CHARLEEN HOFFMAN: Reeva
was one of the superstars.

Super kind and wasn't fake.

Wasn't fake.

There was no divaness about it.

Hi, my name is Reeva,
and I'm a contestant

on Tropika Island of Treasure 5,
which we just shot in Jamaica.

RANDI KAYE: Reeva had
filmed a reality show called

Tropika Island of Treasure.

REEVA STEENKAMP: We were
in Jamaica this year.

Be jealous.
You can be jealous.

[laughs]

She loved it.

She was really starting to
take off as a celebrity.

REEVA STEENKAMP: It's a
really, really fun production.

And it's in its
fourth season now.

And yeah, watch this space.

MIKE STEENKAMP: It was
such a devastating shock

that her whole life of what
she could achieve never

came to fulfillment.

[engine roars]

RANDI KAYE: Reeva met Oscar
at the race track in 2012.

Immediately, she was swept up
into this adrenaline-filled

lifestyle of his.

Oscar lived fast.

Oscar lived recklessly.

Oscar saw himself as an action
hero and played that part.

BARRY BATEMAN: In the
wake of the shooting,

people started
looking into Oscar

Pistorius a little bit deeper.

[growls]

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE: He kept
African tigers that he

would pet like it was a cat.

He drove dirt bikes
at excessive speed,

almost killed himself
crashing a boat, and then

his driving of his own personal
cars, which were like Indy

cars, at 155 miles an hour.

That's a mark of
somebody who's not

completely healthy in some way.

There was clearly
seeds of some trouble.

They were demons that were
driving this young man,

Oscar Pistorius.

REPORTER: There was an
assault charge against him.

DEBORA PATTA: The
incident in 2009

involved a former girlfriend and
another woman in which a door

was kicked down at a party.

He'd been accused of violence.

He'd laid a counter charge.

And eventually, the
whole thing was dropped.

JOHN CARLIN: And of course,
people made quite a lot

of his fascination with guns.

REPORTER: Pistorius was armed
nearly everywhere he went.

RANDI KAYE: He had
misused guns at times.

And the prosecutors
really pounced on that.

And in fact, they added
charges before the trial.

DEBORA PATTA: This
new indictment

includes two extra charges
relating to allegations

that Pistorius discharged
a pistol in a restaurant

and out of the
sunroof of his car.

BARRY BATEMAN: A picture
started to emerge as somebody

with violent tendencies.

At the very least,
Oscar Pistorius

displayed a significant
amount of aggression

and that there were
not people around him

who were sort of grounding him
and pulling him back to Earth

As it got closer
and closer to trial,

there was information coming
out that he had been hanging

around with the wrong crowd.

MANDY WIENER: Some
of the people that he

was hanging out with had pretty
much bad boy reputations.

ROBYN CURNOW: There were
one or two who were directly

involved in assassinations.

I think that raised
a lot of eyebrows.

[suspenseful music]

My role was a consultant
to the legal team,

do a crime scene
reconstruction report,

and also provide a
forensic animation

so that you could
see the evidence

as it laid out in full
contextual relationship.

I went there, and
I set up that house

so that I could
experience everything

that Oscar heard, everything
that Oscar could see.

Could he have seen
her out of bed?

Could he have not have
seen her get out of bed?

Could the neighbor have
heard what they heard?

Or maybe were they mistaken?

What is it like to hear
that sound in the pitch

black of that house?

[creaking]

Those videos we
never saw in court,

but they were leaked to
an Australian network.

SCOTT RODER: Oscar told
me what he recalled

happened the night Reeva died.

It was a very warm night.

And he had set up out on the
patio two really big fans.

And he woke up.

It was midnight.

And he gets out of the bed and
starts bringing the fans in one

by one, closing the
doors, closing the drapes.

He said he heard a noise
coming from the bathroom.

[bang]

[tense music]

ACTOR AS OSCAR: Get out
of my [bleep] house!

Get out!
Get out!

Get out!

As he was screaming, his
voice was getting louder.

He was getting closer
to that bathroom.

The number one question I
always get on this case--

why didn't Reeva just say,
hey, Oscar, I'm in here?

I believe Reeva thought he
had an intruder at gunpoint,

and he thought she
was the intruder.

ACTOR AS OSCAR: Reeva,
call the police!

I truly believe the
physical and forensic evidence

is consistent, supportive,
and confirming that this

was a tragic accident.

Welcome back toHow It Really Happened.

After her passing, Reeva
Steenkamp's parents

discovered some paintings
Reeva made in her early teens.

In one startling picture, a
brown-haired woman with wings

stands next to a ladder
going up to the heavens.

In the background is
a shadowy man holding

what appears to be a shotgun.

Reeva's family believes
the chilling artwork

was a premonition
of a woman who would

be gunned down by her boyfriend
years later on Valentine's Day.

[tense music]

RANDI KAYE: Oscar
Pistorius finally

went to trial just
over a year after Reeva

Steenkamp was killed.

The scene at the courthouse on
the first day was pandemonium.

Open up, open up.

Open up.

We knew who the killer was.

So there was no argument about
who pulled the trigger here.

The question that
lingered over the trial

was, did he know Reeva was
behind that door or not?

The Pistorius trial
was the first trial

in South African history
to ever be live broadcast.

DAVID MCKENZIE: Many
of the witnesses

chose not to be on camera.

So you hear their voices,
but you don't see them.

KELLY PHELPS: The
biggest difference

between the criminal justice
system in South Africa

and a criminal trial
in the United States

is the absence of a jury.

RANDI KAYE: So it was
really up to a sole judge

to decide if Oscar Pistorius
was guilty or innocent.

BARRY BATEMAN: Judge
Thokozile Masipa was

appointed to handle this case.

JUDGE THOKOZILE MASIPA:
How do you plead?

Not guilty, my lady.

[dramatic music]

RANDI KAYE: In going
after premeditated murder,

the state had to
prove that this was

the result of some angry
rage, a jealous partner,

that there had been
a reason, that there

was an intent to kill.

To support their case, we
had WhatsApp messages that were

downloaded from Oscar's phone.

KELLY PHELPS: The state
put forward four messages

in particular that showed
arguments between

Ms. Steenkamp and Mr. Pistorius.

One message that
really stood out

where Reeva Steenkamp
wrote to Oscar Pistorius

that she was scared of him.

The defense's answer to those
text messages was to present

the full picture to
try and show that

the state had really
just hand-picked

the worst of the worst.

KELLY PHELPS: The defense put
forward over 1,700 messages that

were taken from the same
devices that showed a loving

and affectionate relationship.

RANDI KAYE: The defense
punched huge gaping holes

in the state's case.

It became clear
that the substance

that they had found
next to his bed

was actually not
steroids at all.

In fact, it was a legal
herbal remedy that he had.

It was really just sloppy
work by the investigator

on the state side.

I mean, they had never
even tested the substance.

[suspenseful music]

What really was important
in the end in the trial

was not what people saw,
as it is in most cases,

but what people heard.

JOHN CARLIN: In the absence
of any eyewitnesses,

the prosecution
had to rely on what

became known as ear witnesses.

RANDI KAYE: There were neighbors
who the state put forward

who believed that they
had heard shouting

and screaming at the time that
the shooting was taking place.

The state argued if a neighbor
could hear Reeva Steenkamp

screaming, then
Mr. Pistorius could

certainly hear her screaming.

And if he fired at
her anyway, then

he must have meant to kill her.

RANDI KAYE: The defense
disagreed with the state's

version of events.

ROBYN CURNOW: They agreed
that there had been gunshots

and that there had been screams.

But the defense
was trying to prove

that the gunshots came first.

The defense claimed
that there was

the gunfire that
took place first

and then there was screaming.

JOHN CARLIN: And
then at that point,

the defense argued that
these shrieks were not

Reeva Steenkamp, and they
were actually Pistorius, who

was just absolutely sort
of going wild with horror

at what he'd done and making
sounds that could quite easily

have been made by a woman too.

ACTOR AS OSCAR: Help!

Help!

RANDI KAYE: And the banging that
the neighbors said they heard

was actually not the
gunshots, the defense claimed.

That was Oscar Pistorius using
that cricket bat, banging

on that door of that cubicle.

KELLY PHELPS: The defense argued
that the state's witnesses

had to have been mistaken.

SCOTT RODER: The
neighbor that said

they heard the screams
and the argument

and the different shot sequences
was around 400 yards away.

An American football
field is 100 yards.

So if you're 375 yards away with
trees and houses and somebody

screaming from a balcony
or shots are going off

or somebody hitting a
door with a cricket bat,

I'm going to say you're
going to hear something.

But are you're going to
hear and be able to identify

it without any doubt?

I don't think so.

JOHN CARLIN: The defense was
able to poke enough elements

of reasonable doubt
into the testimony

of the various witnesses
so as to basically

neutralize that side of
the prosecution case.

RANDI KAYE: The
defense really thought

things were going their way.

They had been able to
knock down a lot of what

the state had put forward.

KELLY PHELPS: But the real
start of the defense case

was Mr. Pistorius
taking the stand.

[suspenseful music]

RANDI KAYE: There was a lot of
anticipation about how Oscar

Pistorius would
hold up on the stand

because he'd been very
emotional during a lot

of the testimony in court.

ROBYN CURNOW: It was early
Monday morning when Oscar

Pistorius took to the stand.

I was in court.

He looked nervous.

He looked small, sitting
in the witness box.

KELLY PHELPS: Oscar started
his testimony with an apology

to Ms. Steenkamp's family.

RANDI KAYE: And then he very
methodically, with his defense

lawyer, walked
through all of what

he said happened that night.

KELLY PHELPS: He gave a
very lucid and full account

of his version of events.

That, however, was
in complete contrast

to his performance
in cross-examination.

[gunshots]

The prosecution presented
video that had appeared on Sky

News of Oscar at a gun range.

[gunshot]

OSCAR PISTORIUS: [laughs]

Video of Oscar Pistorius
shooting at a watermelon

and Oscar sort of seemingly
delighting in this

watermelon exploding.

And right after
that, the state

showed a picture of
Reeva Steenkamp's

head following the shooting.

[heavy music]

ROBYN CURNOW: You could see
the bullet wound in her head.

You could see what
it had done to her.

GERRIE NEL: You know that the
same happened to Reeva's head.

It exploded.

Have a look.

He said to him,
you look at this.

You did this.

You cannot escape from this.

And it immediately
completely unraveled

Mr. Pistorius on the stand.

JOHN CARLIN: Gerrie Nel
just kept saying, yes,

but you knew it was her.

And he'd say, no.

And it was like some kind
of Shakespeare tragedy.

He was just reduced to this
sobbing, helpless person.

And that was awful to watch.

RANDI KAYE: Oscar was really
unraveling on the stand,

and it got so bad that
the judge had to actually

stop the court proceedings.

RANDI KAYE: The
prosecutor relentlessly

attacked him for
claiming that Reeva

Steenkamp did not make a sound.

ROBYN CURNOW: He seemed to
get himself tied up in knots.

I have no other way
of describing it,

about where he was, why he
was there, what he did first.

And he started to look and
sound like he was being evasive.

After a week on the stand,
Oscar Pistorius, I don't think,

had done himself any favors.

[chatter]

PIERS MORGAN: It's a case that's
now gripping the whole world.

And it really comes down,
I guess, to whether you

believe Oscar Pistorius.

MANDY WIENER: The conclusion
reached by Judge Masipa

was that it was not
premeditated murder,

that Oscar Pistorius
did not intentionally

kill Reeva Steenkamp.

RANDI KAYE: Oscar
Pistorius is found guilty

of culpable homicide,
and he was sentenced

to five years in prison.

[heavy music]

SCOTT RODER:
Involuntary manslaughter

essentially is an accident
because of poor judgment.

And in this case, I do believe
Oscar exercised poor judgment.

It was really the best
case scenario for him

because he was staring down a
charge of premeditated murder.

The prosecution wasn't happy
with the judge's sentencing

and appealed the verdict
to a higher court.

KELLY PHELPS: The state argued
that if it wasn't premeditation,

that it was nonetheless murder.

BARRY BATEMAN: That, in fact,
there was intention by Oscar

to kill somebody,
not necessarily

his girlfriend but
at least the intent

to kill somebody who
was behind that door.

[suspenseful music]

REPORTER: South Africa's
Supreme Court of Appeals

upgraded his original conviction
from culpable homicide

to murder.

JOHN CARLIN: They decided
that it was murder but never

of that sort of
first degree murder,

never of knowingly
killing Reeva Steenkamp.

And with that
murder conviction

came a new sentence for
Oscar Pistorius of six years.

But that's not where it ended.

The prosecution then appealed
that six-year sentence

to the Supreme Court.

They argued that the sentence
was shockingly inappropriate

in the circumstances, and
the Supreme Court of Appeal

decided to substitute
it with a sentence

of 13 years and 5 months.

[soft music]

REPORTER: The parole
hearing of Oscar Pistorius

will be held in Pretoria today.

The correctional
supervision and parole board

for the Kgosi
Mampuru prison will

meet to consider whether he is
suitable for social integration

or not.

This is the second time
the parole board is

meeting to decide
whether Oscar Pistorius

should be released on parole.

KELLY PHELPS: Parole
in South Africa

can be considered
when a person has

served 50% of their sentence.

The parole placement
for Mr. Oscar Pistorius

has been confirmed.

As of January 2024,
Oscar's out of jail.

ROBYN CURNOW:
Oscar Pistorius was

released, quietly, smuggled out,
under the cloak of darkness.

Nobody saw him leave prison.

Nobody saw him arrive at home.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE:
Two lives were lost.

Her life was lost.

His life has been wasted.

SCOTT RODER: I think with,
you know, the grace of God,

he can be successful
in some capacity

and be a positive
member of the community.

And that's my wish for him.

BARRY BATEMAN: To this day,
there's still no agreement

on what happened that night.

People are still polarized.

This court case didn't
settle anything.

In many respects, it
just fueled the argument.

MICHAEL SOKOLOVE: Was
it intentional or not?

You know, he meant to
shoot at that door.

He knew somebody was behind it.

Did he know it was Reeva?

I-- I don't think anyone
knows except Oscar.

JOHN CARLIN: It may perfectly be
true that his version of events

is true.

It may perfectly be true that he
thought he was defending himself

and his beloved girlfriend
from a dangerous intruder.

Whichever version
exactly is true,

he will live with
regret all his life.

He'll be dogged by
that to his dying day.

JUNE STEENKAMP: She
had so much to give.

So much.

TANIA KOEN: She would
have done amazing things.

And she was so kind and
passionate and compassionate.

And the world was a better
place with Reeva in it.

More than 11 years after
killing Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar

Pistorius began the
next chapter of his life

when he was released
from prison on parole.

The conditions of
his parole include

restrictions to his
movements, mandatory classes

on gender-based violence,
therapy, and anger management,

he is not allowed to drink
alcohol or speak to the media

while he serves out the
rest of his sentence, which

will expire in December 2029.

Responding to Oscar's
release from prison,

Reeva Steenkamp's mother, June,
said, "No amount of time served

will bring Reeva back.

We who remain behind are the
ones serving a life sentence."

I'm Jesse L. Martin.
Thank you for watching.

Good night.

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