A judge has dramatically agreed to release graphic pictures of Reeva Steenkamp’s gunshot wounds after her parents begged for the ‘world to see’ the pain Oscar Pistorius had inflicted on their daughter.
The 29-year-old model was struck in the head, elbow and hip as she cowered behind a toilet door at the runner’s house three years ago.
Pistorius shot her with three military-grade Black Talon bullets that are designed to expand upon impact, wreaking devastating damage to the flesh it strikes.
Some of the pictures show her hair matted with blood and severe bruising around her eye which a pathologist said during his trial was caused by the impact of the bullet on her skull.
Judge Thokozile Masipa allowed six crime scene images to be released after Mr and Mrs Steenkamp went through the torturous process of choosing which ones they wanted to be shared with the public.
The sensational ruling came during the Paralympian’s murder sentencing hearing where he had earlier teetered on his stumps in the courtroom in a desperate last bid for leniency.
The athlete, known as the Blade Runner, looked humiliated when he was asked to remove his prosthetic limbs during the televised hearing which will decide his murder sentence.
There was an awkward moment when Barry Steenkamp was forced to stand to make way for his daughter’s killer as he left the dock for the dramatic demonstration.
The spectacle of the one-time sporting superstar’s demonstration across the court room prompted a number of family members, fans and members of the public to break down in tears.
His T-shirt wet with sweat and his red eyes filled with tears, Pistorius paused at the side of the court to remove his prosthetic limbs in the full view of the packed court.
Loud sobs echoed around the wood-pannelled room as all eyes watched Pistorius move unsteadily, and much dramatically reduced in height, towards the front of the court.
Pistorius, 29, appeared so humiliated by the demonstration that he could only stare at the floor, tears flooding down his cheeks, as his lawyer told the court how he did not wish ‘to hide behind his fame’.
When the strain became too much, he knelt down on a cushion before wiping his eyes with a tissue passed to him by one of his legal team.
Pistorius’s sister Aimee, and his close friend Jenna Edkins, wiped tears from their eyes at the excruciating demonstration of the athlete’s vulnerability.
