South Africa: Reeva Steenkamp' cousin, all we wanted the truth

(AGI) - Cape Town, 15 June - Reeva Steenkamp's cousin Kim Martin said all the family wanted from Oscar Pistorius was the truth and an apology. Martin was testifying on the third day of sentencing proceedings for convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius at the High Court in Pretoria today. Martin, who also took the stand in the original trial in 2014, was the final witness for the State to testify in aggravation of sentence. Sentence procedures have been set down for a week before Judge Thokozile Masipa, who originally sentenced Pistorius in October 2014. Martin told the court that Reeva's death has changed her life completely and that her family will never be able to carry on as normal. "Just standing at a queue at a supermarket poses a problem. I attended a lecture recently and the lecturer started speaking about Oscar, and I just went cold. It's never going to leave us." She told the court that the family just wanted the truth from Pistorius. "We just wanted the truth. That's what we wanted. We heard so many versions from Oscar, but we never heard an apology. We never heard him simply saying 'sorry for shooting and killing Reeva that night'." State prosecutor Gerrie Nel asked her about the television interview Pistorius gave to British broadcaster ITV, which will air later this month. "I just think it's unfair. You (Pistorius) had the opportunity to talk to the world, in court, and you chose to do it on television. It's just hurtful, I don't understand why." Barry Roux, for the defence, asked Martin asked her what Reeva told her about her relationship with Pistorius. She said she believed that Reeva was fond of him, but she did not believe that she loved him. At that, Pistorius, looking tired and unshaven, bowed his head and cried. Nel and Roux are currently in the process of delivering final arguments for mitigation and aggravation of sentence. The State is pushing for a minimum sentence of 15 years. In October 2014, Masipa sentenced Pistorius to five years in prison after finding him guilty of culpable homicide - manslaughter. South Africa's national Prosecuting Authority, the entity that institutes criminal proceedings on behalf of the State, approached the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to argue that he should have been found guilty of murder. Pistorius was released in October last year to serve out the rest of his sentence under correctional supervision at his uncle Arnold's house. He had spent nearly a year in Kgosi Mampuru prison in Pretoria. On December 3 last year, the SCA overturned the culpable homicide conviction and replaced it with the more serious one of murder. It sent the matter back to the High Court to determine an appropriate sentence. (AGI) .