Athlete Oscar Pistorius (pictured) began his testimony at North Gauteng High Court on Monday with a tearful apology to the Steenkamps, the family of his late-girlfriend, Reeva (pictured below).
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According to news reports,
Pistorius sobbed bitterly as he apologized to the Steenkamp family before he started his testimony:
“If I may just start by tendering my apology to apologize to [the] Steenkamp family. … There has not been a moment I haven’t thought of the family and the pain, the sorrow, and the emptiness that you guys felt, and I want to apologize. I want to let you know that when she went to bed that night she was loved.”
Pistorius added that he had just wanted to protect her.
The Olympic athlete also recalled the panic attacks he says he has suffered
since he killed Reeva last year and described how he has nightmares that cause him to wake up to the “smell of blood.”
“There hasn’t been a moment since this tragedy happened that I haven’t thought about your family,” the runner said as he addressed the courtroom.
Reeva’s mother, June, appeared stone-faced as Pistorius delivered his apology.
“I wake up every morning and you’re the first people I think of, the first people I pray for…I was simply trying to protect Reeva,” he said.
A central part of his defense is that he erroneously shot Reeva because he thought she was an intruder in his bathroom.
Pistorius’ emotional apology caused a number of people in the courtroom to cry.
The Blade Runner also told the court that he was taking anti-depressants and had lost a lot of weight since the night Reeva died.
Pistorius also testified that he grew up in a loving family and his mother was a terrific parent, “Everything I learnt in life I learned from her – she passed away very unexpectedly,” Pistorius said.
Pistorius shot and killed Reeva on February 14th last year. He has since pleaded not guilty to murder, discharging a firearm in public, and contravening the Firearms Act.
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