by Mandy Wiener
It is understood that Hawks cellphone expert Captain Francois Moller had provided investigators with a list of the identities of the numbers on the service provider list, but no one had made the connection between Jenna’s father’s name and Oscar. The prosecuting authority declined to comment on questions we sent to them about this revelation.
‘It would be wrong to infer that the state erred in not leading that info,’ a member of the state’s team suggested. ‘It would deal with character evidence which the state is not entitled to lead. If there is no SMS or WhatsApp communication, how do we infer from the phone calls where we don’t know the content that something untoward was taking place. I don’t think it’s a big piece of evidence. Let’s say we did pick it up – we can only pick up phone calls but who would tell us what they’re talking about?’
A source close to the defence team is also at pains to explain that this is no great revelation, that Oscar’s lawyers always knew about Edkins and had consulted with her, and this is certainly not the ‘smoking gun’ the public and the media have so desperately been searching for.
‘There is a very good, friendly relationship between them now. He often called her. Reeva was well aware of the friendship. It became a genuine friendship. Previously it was romantic but there was no romantic connotation at all. It’s not the smoking gun. The defence was well aware of the phone call to her and had in fact consulted with her and confirmed the friendship and not a romantic relationship. It was never raised by the state. If it was raised by the state as a smoking gun, the defence would have called Jenna and she was willing to testify,’ insists the source.
Evidence of the continued contact and friendly relationship between Oscar and Jenna was also found in Oscar’s house. In Police Album 10, which documents amongst other things, ‘photos of portraits and photos in the house’, there is evidence that the athlete kept reminders of his special bond with Jenna.
In the upstairs TV lounge the police took photographs of an A2 framed canvas picture collage featuring about 40 black-and-white pictures of Oscar and Jenna. Dozens of photos of the couple together, sometimes kissing and being playful, surround an A4 picture of the blonde and the athlete staring into each other’s eyes. On the reverse side is an intimate and affectionate message written in black pen from Jenna to Oscar in celebration of their relationship and his 22nd birthday:
To My Baby
Happy Birthday You are so precious to me and 22 years ago on this day the most Special Person in my life was born!! I am always here for you and as time goes on I hope to add many more Happy Memories to this board (the most amazing memories … even tho a lot of them consist of you biting me my starfish who poo in pants! Babyshoes have a wonderful day!
‘What can I give you, my Sweet, my Lover, you who have given the world to me, showed me the light and the joy that cover, the wild sweet earth and the restless sea …’
Jen xxx
(BabyPop)
22! Yay!
Oscar turned 22 in 2008, the year of the Beijing Paralympics. The games had taken place in September, two months before his birthday. The athlete took gold in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres sprints, setting Paralympic and world records in each race.
Four years later and another Olympic Games was on. Oscar was dating a different blonde – Samantha Taylor. By July 2012 the relationship was collapsing when the athlete sent an email not only to Taylor, but to her mother as well, addressing the document to ‘Sam and the Taylor Family’.
Babyshoes featured prominently in this email. Gerrie Nel referred to the email in the murder trial when he questioned Oscar’s manager Peet van Zyl about plans to take Taylor along to the London Games. However, the full contents of the email were not read out in court.
In his outpouring of emotion to his then current girlfriend, he revealed his deep-seated feelings towards Jenna Edkins and the powerful history that they shared:
Everyone has their darkness, yet everyone has a burning desire to need to find that one person that understands them. There thoughts without saying a word. There emotion without a flinch. Jenna and I started dating when I was 20, I met her and fell for her pretty quickly. I had grown up with her cousins and on the weekends that my brother sister and I were able to see my dad, my mom being friend with Jennas mom and aunt would take Jenna to church. It was [surprising] that we had only met some years after my mom had passed but this immediately drew me closer to her. I don’t talk about my mom and my dad to anyone as it wasn’t a pretty picture, not the one that I became accustomed to portraying as a kid anyway. The fact that my mom had known Jenna [meant] a lot to me and was one of the base notes of our relationship, which maybe kept it together long after it [should’ve] ended. Jenna and I started dating and in the [beginning] everything seemed like it was perfect. She understood me and was willing to support me no matter what.
When Oscar returned from Beijing in 2008, he and Edkins began having problems and the relationship ended:
I found myself struggling to make sense of the things around me. Some of it went to my head and looking back, I regret a lot of the decisions I ended up making … I had to deal with a lot of traveling and found myself wondering away from her. I met a girl later that year and in my mind I made myself believe that this is what I had been looking for. I fell quickly and I fell fast for this girl but within a couple of weeks I realised that I had been so desperate to chase something that wasn’t there that I had made myself believe it was. Jenna and I got back together. After months of trying to make it work I realised I had broken her trust and called things off. A couple of weeks later I found what I thought I had been looking for but it didn’t take me long to realise that it was my desperation and loneliness coming back to get me. I had all the money a 23 year old could spend and as fast as I was making it I was spending it. Trying to buy happiness, surrounded by fake friends, who although as time went on I knew were just there for the good made me feel better about myself.
It was then, in 2009, that Oscar crashed his boat on the Vaal dam and the situation with Edkins changed again:
I ended up in a coma for 6days after being airlifted. It breaks my heart when people joke about it and me being pissed because I can’t remember everything about that night like it just happened and I thought I was going to die … I called my brother and sister and thanked them for always staying by my side and called Jenna even though we hadn’t spoken in weeks to apologise for being a lost [dumb] fuck and playing with her heart. It wasn’t my intention to hurt her but like I have so many times by being selfish done so. When I woke up in Milpark Jenna had slept next to my bed for 6days, she was in the middle of varsity exams and had her books all over the room.
When he recovered, he thought he had been blessed with a second chance. But months later when Oscar went to Europe for the athletics seasons, the relationship with Edkins fell apart again.
It was evident from the email to Taylor that while the athlete realised the relationship with Edkins was apparently over, he still wanted to be friends with her because ‘she had been there with me through a lot’. ‘At times I wanted it to be still there, Sam. I’m sorry, as I know you’re hurting. I don’t want to tell you what I think it is you want to hear, but the truth.’
Taylor would also reveal to us the full extent of her ‘problems’ with Edkins during the course of her time with Oscar.
So, while Oscar’s relationship with Taylor had ended and he had moved on to Reeva, who he would claim to have fallen in love with, he still maintained contact with another ex-girlfriend: Babyshoes.
While there is no evidence to suggest that their relationship was anything other than friendship, it is nevertheless noteworthy that Oscar kept in touch with Edkins, made contact with her on occasions when he and Reeva appeared to have disagreements, and called her the day before that fateful Valentine’s day.
Edkins declined to do an interview with us. In a brief response to questions sent to her about the nature of her ongoing relationship with Oscar, sh
e commented: ‘I do not wish to respond to mere allegations, for example, the allegations of Oscar calling me when he and Reeva had a fight or the statement given by Samantha are untrue. It is common knowledge that Oscar and I have remained friends over the years and I do not wish to be involved in any media hype around this terrible situation.’
The only mention of Edkins in Oscar’s SMS or WhatsApp conversations with Reeva came on 15 January 2013:
Reeva: Boo
Reeva: Was it Jenna edkins or [Jenna] Dover that asked if we together?
Reeva: Cos Dover is standing right behind me for this movie …
Oscar: Edkins.
Oscar: Xx
Reeva: Haha
Reeva: Juuuuust checkinggggg
Oscar: ;)
Oscar: Don’t really chat to dover much
On the eve of Valentine’s Day, Oscar arrived home to Reeva while still on the phone to Jenna Edkins. It is a conversation the police did not identify and Oscar did not speak about in his evidence – but whatever its substance, Oscar had been in contact with Edkins when he arrived home on the evening of 13 February.
Who was to say what relevance or consequence this could have had to the state’s case or if it would have swayed Masipa at all if the police investigations had unearthed it?
Taking the Stand
With the closing of the state’s case, the key question was whether Oscar would take the stand in his own defence. His lawyer Barry Roux had told the court in passing that his client would indeed testify, but there was still some doubt that it would happen. Oscar had been extremely emotional in court over the weeks of the state’s case, crying and vomiting as evidence was led, and there was doubt as to whether he would be able to maintain his composure for the duration of intense cross-examination.
In reality, Oscar had no choice but to testify and take the court into his confidence. There were only two people on the scene at the time of the shooting – Reeva and Oscar – and he was the only one remaining, the only one who could give the court an account of the events of that morning. It was also crucial that he explain his state of mind to back up his defence of putative private defence. It was up to him to convince the court of what he was thinking, how he felt he was genuinely under threat and why he took the actions he did. If he failed to take the stand, it would amount to an admission to the charges against him.
University of Cape Town law expert Kelly Phelps agreed it was crucial that Oscar take the stand. ‘Officially, no accused person has to testify (there is always a right to remain silent) but pragmatically he had no choice but to testify. This is because of the defence he has raised – putative private defence. This defence is assessed subjectively by the court – in other words, what that particular accused was actually thinking on the night in question, rather than what he should have or could have thought.’
Phelps adds that in the case of Antonio de Oliveira, the immigrant who shot at his employer and his guests (mentioned in a previous chapter), the courts made it clear that the only real way for the court to know subjectively what the accused was thinking is to hear from that person.
Professor James Grant agrees it wasn’t really an option for Oscar to exercise his constitutional right to silence. ‘Some have commented, rightly in my view, that one may remain silent at one’s peril. This means that, while one has the right to remain silent, it is not always in one’s best interests … There are situations in which, by virtue of the evidence against you, or by virtue of the nature of your own defence, you would be well-advised to testify. Oscar’s (original) defence of putative private defence is one, which places in issue what the accused was thinking at the time of the incident. By its nature, his subjective mental state is all-important and he is the best person to explain what he was thinking,’ says Grant.
Comparisons were incorrectly drawn between Oscar’s potential decision and that of US football star OJ Simpson, who had chosen not to testify in his trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and had been acquitted. Phelps believes the cases are not comparable, other than for dramatic effect.
‘In OJ’s case there was an established track record of violence (as opposed to allegations of one in this case, with little or no evidence to back up the claim) and an abusive relationship between he and the deceased (as opposed to allegations of one with little or no evidence to back up the claim). There was also evidence that OJ planned to murder the deceased in a jealous rage in reaction to her moving on with another romantic partner. The case was not won or lost because he didn’t testify – most accused persons will not testify if they can help it because a good cross-examiner can unnerve a saint on the stand and make them look guilty or suspicious,’ says Phelps. ‘Another key difference between the cases is that OJ tried to evade justice from the outset – Pistorius handed himself over willingly and never denied shooting Steenkamp; it is his explanation of why that differs from the states version.’
And so it was that on 7 April, after defence pathologist Jan Botha had completed his testimony, that Barry Roux announced to the court: ‘I call Mr Pistorius.’ It was what the vast majority of the people in the gallery – reporters – wanted to hear. Like a headline act at a show, the accused was the main attraction and had drawn the crowds. The main courtroom was packed to capacity and so was the overflow facility next door. The world was waiting to hear Oscar’s version in Oscar’s voice. He appeared tense, experiencing a retching episode during the pathologist’s testimony, and was given a little time to compose himself.
Oscar packed away several items into a small bag that he left in the dock, clasped his spectacles and a packet of tissues in his right hand and opened the little wooden swing door of the dock as Aimee mouthed words of support. Steadying himself with his left hand on the dock, he made his way past his bullet-riddled bathroom door towards the witness box in the front right of the courtroom. His gaze was fixed forward, not once glancing over to the gallery where June Steenkamp and her entourage sat. He had chosen not to have his face televised during his evidence so only his quivering voice was audible as he was sworn in. But what the television viewers couldn’t see was Oscar trembling, as he raised his right hand and declared, ‘So help me God.’
Before leading Oscar through his version of events around the shooting, Roux invited Oscar to make the opening remarks he had requested to begin with. He wore a black suit, white shirt and black tie that day; sombre attire as an expression of his grief. The athlete tendered a deeply emotional apology directed at Reeva’s parents. Her mother, sitting in the public gallery, stared stoically ahead, her jaw tightly clenched, guarding against any emotion. Next to her, her advocate Dup de Bruyn watched as Oscar crumbled. Aimee and Carl were less composed as the tears streaked down their faces while other Pistorius relatives watched on. Judge Masipa listened attentively, her chin resting on her fist as she focused on the accused:
I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to … Mrs and Mr … Mr and Mrs Steenkamp, to Reeva’s family, to those of you who knew her, who are here today, family and friends …
Oscar trailed off. He was overcome with emotion, his voice barely audible, so that Judge Masipa was forced to intervene. ‘Mr Pistorius, I do not like doing this to you, but I can hardly hear you—’
Oscar continued:
I … I … I beg your pardon, My Lady, I will speak up. I would like to apologise and say that there is a lot of moments and there has not been a moment since … since this tragedy happened that I have not thought about your family. I wake up every morning and you are the first people I think of, the first people I pray for. I cannot imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that I have caused you and your family. I was simply trying to protect Reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night, she felt loved. I have tried to put my words on paper many, many times to write to you, but no words would ever suffice …
As Oscar fumbled on, Barry Roux stepped in, reminding him that although he wanted to look at Reeva’s mother while he ap
ologised, he had to face the judge so that the microphone could pick up his voice. Roux was speaking softly, compassionately to his client, as if empathising with him in this solemn moment. But the awkward apology had ended and Roux began leading his client through his evidence.
Day one of Oscar on the stand ended early because, said Roux, his client was exhausted. As the judge left the courtroom at the close of proceedings, Oscar slumped back into the chair, leaned his head on his hand and started crying. With Carl and Aimee consoling their sibling, attempts were made to usher him outside, but he sat down on the step leading to the witness box and continued to cry. His psychologist sat beside him, her arm over his shoulder as she whispered into his ear. Pistorius family members formed a huddle around the pair, using their legs to shield the accused from the eyes of the prying media.
This was the start of seven days on the stand for the Blade Runner, with the world hanging onto his every word.
Oscar’s Version
Oscar had already given a written version of events at the bail application. He then gave another written version during his plea explanation. On the stand as a witness, he spoke in far more detail. Speaking quietly but rapidly, his advocate led him through the events of 13 February and then on to the fatal Valentine’s Day morning:
From the time I arrived home, Reeva was preparing dinner. I was talking to her, and on the iPad I was surfing the net. I was looking at cars that I had wanted to get around to during the day. To have a look at and when I went upstairs as I … as I was drawing the bath, I was on my iPad. I lay on my bed and took off my suit. I then sat in the bath for a while, I cannot remember if I was on it then. And then as I got out of bed, for a short time thereafter I was on it. We went down to dinner, I stopped using it. We were sitting and chatting.
