by Mandy Wiener
She also identified a problem that would become significant in court days later: ‘I remember sitting there and I suppose I’ve watched enough CSI to know. It’s a crime scene and I remember looking at all the other assistants, like the ladies, they were all wearing foot covers and gloves and I remember looking at Hilton Botha. He was wearing gloves but no foot covers and I thought, That’s weird. I mean, of everything that’s going on, that’s what I think right there, Jeez, you’re not wearing foot covers.’
It was Captain Hilton Botha who brought Reeva Steenkamp’s iPhone out to Samantha in the hope that she might have the PIN code to help him unlock the handset. Botha wanted to get hold of the victim’s next of kin. Earlier Samantha had said to officers on the scene that somebody had to contact Reeva’s parents.
‘I said to them, “Her parents need to know, somebody needs to tell them now.” I said, “I’ll phone them.”’
No one had the Steenkamps’ phone number so Samantha called a mutual friend. ‘I need to get Barry Steenkamp’s number,’ she told him.
She was anxious that the news would break in the media before Reeva’s parents had been told.
‘No one should have to find out that their daughter has been killed on the TV,’ says Samantha. Botha brought her Reeva’s phone before she could get the number for the Steenkamps.
Samantha was reluctant to handle the device as it was clearly evidence in the case. ‘He brought me the phone and it was a bag that he took it out of. He said to me, “Does anyone know the code? Can anyone unlock her phone?” and I said, “I can.” There was blood on it and I said to him, “Are you sure I can touch that?” She had a black phone and I noticed there was a little bit of blood on it. And he said, “Ja, ja, ja, it’s fine. Just put in the code.”’
With the phone unlocked, Botha scrolled the contacts list and found the number saved under ‘Mommy’. He punched the digits into his own phone and pressed the dial button, bracing himself for the incomprehensible job of delivering the tragic news to a mother – that her daughter had been killed.
It took nearly two hours from the time of the shooting for the news to make its way to Port Elizabeth, on South Africa’s eastern coastline, where Reeva’s parents June and Barry live. June answered her cellphone just after 5am and Captain Hilton Botha asked her if she had a daughter and what her name was.
‘He said there had been an accident, someone had been shot, my Reeva was dead,’ June later recalled. Botha told her he wanted to tell them personally so that they wouldn’t hear the news on the radio. June immediately phoned her husband who was out at the time. She was so hysterical that Barry thought she was trying to tell him that their dog was dead. From that moment, she says, all the joy went out of their lives.
It took several more hours before the news of Reeva’s death reached her Johannesburg family, the Myers, with whom she had been living in Sandringham. Gina Myers, Reeva’s best friend, received a phone call from Samantha Greyvenstein at 7:45am.
‘I could hear she was crying,’ says Gina. ‘She said, “Gi, are you sitting down?” and immediately I stood up and started screaming, “Where’s Reeva? Where is she?” She said, “Gi, sit down, there’s been an accident.” She said to me, “Reeva’s gone,” and I started screaming and crying. I just lost all sense of what was really going on. My dad and my mom and my sister came running into the room. I had no idea. I didn’t even really care. I just heard that Reeva is gone.’
And then, at 8.03 am on Thursday, Valentine’s Day 2013, a tweet from the daily Afrikaans newspaper Beeld broke the news that would rock the world:
@Beeld_Nuus Oscar Pistorius skiet sy vriendin in sy huis dood omdat hy glo dink sy is ‘n inbreker.*
*@Beeld_Nuus Oscar Pistorius shoots his girlfriend dead in his house because he believed, thought she was a burglar.
A Lioness’s Legacy
The two head-turning models lay sprawled across the carpet in the spare room of the home in the wealthy suburb of Atholl near Sandton, Johannesburg, nursing their cups of tea and contemplating their lives. One a gym-toned, striking brunette with carved features and intuitive eyes, the other a blonde with a warm, enveloping smile and laid-back demeanour. Both women, whilst foils of one another in appearance, had featured on the pages of FHM magazine, marking high points in their careers in the industry. But beyond their profession, the two had become best friends, sharing their lives with each other.
It was a Tuesday evening and Samantha Greyvenstein and Reeva Steenkamp were in their favourite spot. Stretched out on the carpet in Samantha’s home, drinking tea and messing around on their laptops was a pastime they regularly shared together as one helped the other through a crisis. This particular Tuesday was Reeva’s turn to support her friend through a meltdown.
‘I was freaking out about something. I was having a nervous breakdown about my life and about work and I needed to talk to her. I met her there after work and it’s quite sweet because she always used to get there before me and I’d walk in and she’d be sitting talking to our household staff. She’s so chilled like that. She would have a long conversation with everyone and then I’d walk in and we’d make tea and then we’d go upstairs. I’d vent to her about my life and my problems and then she would come up with solutions. We’d lie on the carpet and we’d talk and we’d drink tea and we’d faff …’ Samantha reminisces wistfully about the last time she saw Reeva alive. ‘She was perfect.’
That evening in mid-February 2013 Reeva was effervescent as she spoke about the future and the potential it held. Her boyfriend of three months, Oscar Pistorius, had been talking to her about accompanying him on his travels around the world. ‘She was very happy, and said, “He told me I must come overseas with him on his trips, so his agent sent me his itinerary and I’ve got to see if I can be away at the same time.” He wanted her to go to Hawaii and Australia. I said, “Wow, that’s awesome!” and she told me, “He’s never taken a girl or a friend on any of his trips before.” He goes to Italy for months and she was saying they were going to go to Italy together. That was when I said to her, “Are you really happy?” and she said, “If he asked me to marry him tomorrow, I think I’d say yes.”’
Samantha believes that Reeva and Oscar had a future together. ‘I definitely think they were in it for the long haul; I think they were very serious about each other. This was a proper relationship.’ She wasn’t shocked that her friend was considering marriage. ‘After seeing how well they had been getting on and how they did everything together. They were besotted with each other like any other fresh new couple is, kisses and love and hugs and whatever when they were around us.’
Reeva and Samantha met ‘out on the jol’ around eight years before, through mutual friend Darren Fresco, at Cappello in Lonehill. Samantha remembers Reeva being ‘awesome’ and the two hit it off immediately. ‘I didn’t know Darren that well at that stage and he just called me out of the crowd and I went to go and say ‘hi’. I met her and from there we were friends ever since. I liked her because she was so chilled.’ Samantha laughs as she recalls what they discussed at the bar. ‘She had just had her boobs done and she was a little bit sore and I was telling her that I wanted to get mine done and so we spoke about trivial stuff like that but she was awesome, very laid back. She was very humble; she didn’t have any airs and graces whatsoever. She didn’t care whether you were a street sweeper or the Queen of England; she was very down to earth.’
Reeva had only just moved to Johannesburg from her home in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth and she was not yet as extrovert as she would become. ‘She was a little bit shyer in those days. She was very honest about the fact that she wanted to become someone, with the modelling, and so she worked hard at it, going to launches and any party that she got invited to, she needed to be seen out. But in those days she was a little bit less like that. She was also ten kilos heavier when I met her.’
Reeva had a relatively sheltered upbringing in Port Elizabeth where she attended a convent school, St Dominic’s Pri
ory. Teachers remember her as being vibrant, friendly and diligent, and she was a popular pupil, respected by her peers and authorities there.
Along with her schoolwork, she invested her energy into horse riding from a young age, a likely hobby as her father Barry was a racehorse trainer in the city. She became accomplished in the sport and was decorated for her success. Reeva matriculated from St Dominic’s in 2001 and completed her LLB at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in 2005.
At age 14, Reeva took up modelling. But her real breakthrough came much later when she was already in university. In 2004 she was named as a finalist in the Weekend Post Faces of the Future competition. A year later she was also a finalist in The Herald Miss Port Elizabeth competition. It wasn’t long before she was selected as the first South African Face of Avon, representing the international cosmetics company.
By then she knew real stardom did not lie in Port Elizabeth, but rather in Joburg. She moved to Gauteng in 2007, which is when she met Samantha.
Samantha was already a successful model and recalls taking Reeva with her to a shoot in 2009. ‘I asked her to come along because it was kind of like a specialist thing. It was underwater modelling and the photographer was looking to put a team together that he could use. I said to her, “Come with,” and she was so self-conscious in her bikini and she didn’t want to do anything. If I look back at the photos, she was a bit heavier than she was when she died. It was funny because modelling was her whole life for the latter part of her life, but back then she didn’t actually get that much work.’
At the time, Reeva was modelling for the Ice agency and was working with her boyfriend, Warren Lahoud, in his company. The Lebanese, with dark features, a boyish face and pristine smile, ran a successful fruit-and-vegetable supply business. Reeva had been applying to do articles at various law firms in Joburg. But because she had taken off several years to try to break into the modelling industry after university, she was repeatedly turned down for articles. She also attempted to do her pupillage to become an advocate but was unsuccessful. ‘All the firms she had applied to, they all looked at her like she was some Barbie and told her you can’t just pull in after eight years,’ recalls Samantha.
In a 2011 interview with blog site The Bucket, Reeva spoke about her decision to move to Joburg from Port Elizabeth and weighing up a career in modelling versus the law:
I landed a contract as the Face of Avon cosmetics and was flying to and from PE every other week … and decided I needed to be based in a more metropolitan city with more contact in the industry. I made appointments with several agencies but Jayn from Ice called me up one day (I was having lunch at Moyo off Jan Smuts) and she refused to put the phone down until I walked into her Rosebank offices. So I paid the bill and stayed on the line with her until I literally walked into Ice Models. The deal was sealed instantly and I made arrangements to move to Jhb.
During my final year of Law, I had a horse-riding accident and broke my back. After some time in hospital and with some rehabilitation, I returned to classes and made the decision to never let go of my dreams and aspirations. With this in mind, I attained my degree instead of taking a year off for rest and pursued my dreams of becoming a model in the big city. I could’ve been in a wheelchair but I was blessed to recover fully from the tragic experience.
I intend writing my bar exams next year whilst getting away once or twice a month to shoot local/international work. I want to be a qualified advocate before I’m 30 so it’s important that I stay focused and academically diligent over the next year without a hectic modelling schedule.
From Reeva’s application to do pupillage at the Johannesburg Bar, it’s evident that she valued the principles of justice and was motivated to practise law, but she knew she would face challenges with her career:
I realise that a long period of time has lapsed between my graduating and making this application, but I am a fast learner and an eager student. I believe I have the ability to fall back into legal mind under the pressure of my will to succeed. I chose to alter my path after graduating after I broke my back in a horseriding accident and survived paralysis. I decided to travel the world and be a model whilst I was still young and healthy enough to do so. It is now, however, my intention to become a student of law once again.
Her application also contains her matric certificate and the results of various terms at NMMU as well as an invitation to join the prestigious non-profit honour society Golden Key. While her Grade 12 results were mediocre – she achieved Bs and Cs across the board – she regularly achieved distinctions at university.
In a 2012 interview with Weekend Post newspaper in Port Elizabeth, Reeva reflected on her decision to pursue modelling rather than be admitted to the Bar:
At the end of last year I made an application to the Bar. It was a nervewracking experience. As I walked out I got the call for the FHM shoot as well as two others. I made a decision to take the modelling shoots. I believe in destiny and faith.
Reeva’s modelling success would come with time and weight loss, as fellow Port Elizabethan and then editor of FHM magazine Hagen Engler recalled in a column in the Daily Maverick days after she died:
Reeva had been an aspiring teen model when we met previously. I might have been judging her at a ‘Faces of the future’-type model search in PE. In the end her break came when she was selected to represent Avon cosmetics.
After school, I lost track of her. By the time our paths crossed again in the casting room, she’d apparently studied law, and was running a fresh-produce business with her then-boyfriend.
Thrilled to see her, we weren’t able to cast her that time. Though her personality sparkled like the night sky, she was carrying a bit of extra weight. Still sexy, though. She was a contender, but we didn’t choose her for that particular calendar.
The next year, she was back, and in shape. She must have lost 10–15 kg at least, which is significant in the superficial world of bikini modelling. I don’t think she made that calendar either. Something about too many blondes, or too pale. Like I say, it’s a superficial world.
Undeterred, she came back the following year. And then. Then! That was the charm. She had trained herself to flawless super-fitness, was tanned and taut, but what set her apart was the attitude – that same knowing wink. She knew what this game was all about, and she was willing to play it. To train up, be flirtatious on video, bring that indefinable sexiness in the eyes, strike the awkward poses.
So there she was. On the calendar shoot for Bazaruto Island, Mozambique, where it was immediately clear she was one of the most beautiful models on the island. Her TV interviews were smart and sassy, striking just the right balance between one-of-the-guys humour and sassy coquettishness.
She didn’t make the calendar cover, but we made a mental note to get her on the FHM cover as soon as possible.
That eventually happened in December 2011, where we shot at a hotel pool on the roof of Joburg. Reeva nailed it, and was fun to work with, if a little nervous about her first cover shoot.
We were impressed, and there was this vibe of, ‘Wow, this girl deserves to be more famous!’
Samantha laughs as she exclaims about all the attempts they made at cracking the FHM calendar over the years, knowing what it would mean for their careers.
‘Reeva and I always had this joke that we had been to the FHM calendar casting eight times in the last eight years. We get told to go but every year we get told, “Your boobs are too big” or “You’re too skinny,” so we always thought, What’s the point? But we ended up going anyway and the one year she got it, and that marked the start of her career. She then got the cover and from there she really worked hard. It wasn’t just a case of doing shoots; it was a lot about creating this public persona for herself.’
Samantha says that while Reeva was committed to getting her body into shape, it certainly wasn’t achieved through sweat and hours in the gym. ‘I don’t remember her losing the weight. She just started watching what s
he ate. She used to gym with me, but she used to do five little things and she’d be like, “Okay, I’m going to take a break now,” so I always used to say to her, “Your body didn’t come from gymming, it came from dieting.” She was cute, she used to have a little routine: she would go to gym or she would skip at home or something – she wasn’t the biggest die-hard gym fan.’
When Reeva featured on the FHM cover towards the end of 2011, she was still dating Warren. The two had been living together for around three and a half years but the distance between them had grown.
After Reeva and Warren broke up, she was a free agent but Samantha was already dating the successful entrepreneur Justin Divaris, owner of the luxury lifestyle company Daytona Group, which sells flashy high-end cars such as McLaren and Aston Martin. Samantha and Reeva spent a lot of their free time together, meeting for tea on Mondays at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton and going on adventures.
‘She was very similar to me. I’m an only child. She was very much a laat lammetjie [“late lamb”, born long after other children in a family]. She was kind of my go-to person for virtually anything, and vice versa. We used to see each other at least three times a week and have tea and a catch-up. Our weekly thing was to go to the Michelangelo and sit and have tea and scones and we had the same waiter all the time and the scones were heart-shaped and we used to sit there and be all proper.
‘We would do the strangest stuff together,’ says Samantha as she vividly remembers taking Reeva to get her first tattoo – tiny, stencilled initials on her wrist. It would be the first of three she would get on her body.
‘She decided she wanted to get her first tattoo and I had just come back from modelling in Taiwan and I got my first tattoo on the back of my neck and she said, “No, I want to get it done.”’ The two had yet to meet legendary Parkhurst tattoo artist Pepe – who has inked Joburg’s finest, from celebrities to hit men to sports stars – so they took a drive to a parlour in Festival Mall in Kempton Park.
