Oscar Pistorius ‘desperate for forgiveness’ for murder of Reeva Steenkamp

Disgraced South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is desperate be forgiven by the family of his slain girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who’s murder in 2013 led to his conviction and imprisonment for 13 and a half years. 

The UK Sun reported on Sunday 11 October that Pistorius’ former headteacher, 76-year-old Bill Schroder, had visited the Blade Runner in prison on several occasions, and that he had told him of his desire to be forgiven for robbing the Steenkamp family of their daughter on that fateful Valentine’s Day in 2013 when he opened fire on her while she was in the bathroom. 

Oscar Pistorius ‘desperate for forgiveness’  

Schroder told the UK publication that “what he really wants is forgiveness”, and that the prospect of being paroled is in fact a subject of anxiety for Pistorius, who reportedly fears being faced with “backlash” if he is released prior to the conclusion of his sentence. 

“He is more concerned about forgiveness than actually getting out on parole. In fact, he has a real fear about getting parole as he knows they’ll be a backlash.”

“I said to him that if he had killed my daughter I doubt I would forgive him,” said Schroder. 

Pistorius issued an apology to the Steenkamp family upon receiving his sentence for the murder in 2018, and his father, Henke Pistorius, told the Pretoria News that the fact that he had not been forgiven continued to “tear him apart”

“Oscar has already, from the start and over and over asked for forgiveness. He told the first witness who came on the scene how sorry he was,” he said. 

“He asked everyone’s forgiveness and said he would work for the Lord for the rest of his life if Reeva’s life could be spared.”

Blade Runner maintains killing of Steenkamp was accidental  

Schroder said that Pistorius remains adamant that the killing of Steenkamp was a tragic accident, and that he thought she was an intruder when he fired multiple shots through the bathroom door of their bedroom. 

“He still maintains to this day it was an accident,” he said, adding the he “did feel he was showing remorse”.

“He quoted a study by an expert that when you are woken from a deep sleep and are put into a situation of fear that you act very differently to when fully conscious. I listened to him but did not buy it.”

He is currently serving his sentence at the Atridgeville Prison in Pretoria, and has “given up exercise, started smoking, grown a big beard and turned to God”, according to Schroder.