Reeva Steenkamp's parents should not be seeking compensation only justice
Reeva Steenkamp's parents should not be seeking compensation only justice
I believe I would rather starve in the street than take a
penny from the man who – accidentally or otherwise – took my daughter’s
life
Parents: June and Barry Steenkamp
Channel 5
Any parent can understand the devastation of June and Barry Steenkamp
– the parents of Reeva Steenkamp, the South African model shot by her
boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius.
What is more difficult to understand is why they have decided to sue Pistorius for compensation.
The Blade Runner claims that he thought his girlfriend was a burglar.
A
jury will decide if they believe him when his pre-meditated murder
trial starts on August 19 – ironically, the day that Reeva would have
celebrated her 30th birthday.
“I think of her screaming in fear and pain,” says Barry Steenkamp, 69. “I can’t get that out of my head.”
It is every parent’s worst nightmare. But most parents will be bewildered by the Steenkamps’ lawsuit.
“She regularly helped us with food and utility bills,” says mum June, 66.
The Steenkamps now carry a wound that will never heal.
They have a hole in their life that can never be filled. Certainly not with money from the man who shot their daughter.
I
understand that the Steenkamps are poor people. I get that they looked
to their beautiful daughter to help them with the bills.
But if that was my daughter, I would not want a penny from Oscar Pistorius.
In
fact, I believe I would rather starve in the street than take a penny
from the man who – accidentally or otherwise – took my daughter’s life.
The Steenkamps should not be seeking compensation for their daughter. They should only be seeking justice.
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Reeva Steenkamp
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Leave Egypt to its chaos
Egypt as not quite got the hang of this democracy caper.
A year ago, Mohammed Morsi was elected president in free and fair elections.
Morsi had more of a mandate to run Egypt than Cameron and Clegg have to run the United Kingdom.
But the army informed Morsi that he was no longer president.
Cue
delirious celebrations from the anti-Morsi mobs gathered in Tahrir
Square, where they demand social justice – and yet have committed 91
sexual assaults on women in the last week, including the gang rape of a
22-year-old Dutch journalist.
Some democracy.
Some social justice.
The
lesson for Britain is – let them get on with it. Regime change in the
Middle East inevitably means one gang of brutes being replaced by
another gang of brutes.
And any country that celebrates a military coup with dancing in the street has an awful lot to learn about democracy.
Mandela the magnificent
The squalid disputes among the Mandela family can take nothing away from the most beloved politician of the 20th century.
Nelson Mandela changed the world. More than this, he changed the hearts of men.
When Mandela is gone, he will be mourned by every member of his race.
The human race.
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