Justice was not served when Oscar Pistorius was found guilty only of culpable homicide in the shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp's mother says.
The Telegraph reported Tuesday that June Steenkamp wished that double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius had been found guilty of murder, based on an interview she conducted with Hello! Magazine.
Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled on Sept. 11 that Pistorius, who shot Steenkamp four times through a bathroom door in their home in Pretoria, South Africa on Valentine's Day, 2013, that he could not have foreseen that he would've killed someone when he repeatedly fired the weapon at the door.
Masipa is scheduled to sentence Pistorius on the culpable homicide charge on Oct. 13. He faces anywhere from a suspended sentence and a fine to 15 years in prison.
Judge Thokozile Masipa has been threatened over her verdict on the Oscar Pistorius trial
Pistorius escaping a murder charge, however, is inexplicable to June Steenkamp.
"As their relationship developed, she phoned me to tell me they'd been fighting a lot. When you're in love with someone so early in a relationship you don't fight, at least not that much," said the 67-year-old mother to Hello! Magazine, as reported by the Telegraph.
"I also believe she was his trophy and he wanted her to be the woman who would help boost his career, not someone who he was devoted to."
The victim's mother acknowledged that Masipa could rule only on the information presented her, but still doesn't understand how the verdict went the way it did.
"I understand that the judge could only deal with the facts that were placed before her, but my view is that the verdict is not the right one, it doesn't sit well with me at all."
June Steenkamp is so disillusioned that she said she isn't sure whether she will attend Pistorius' sentencing.
"I don't wish to set foot in a courtroom ever again," she said. "All we have ever wanted is the truth. We don't necessarily want him to go to jail. Nothing will change. Reeva is not coming back."
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