One Tragic Night (34 page)
Authors: Mandy Wiener
The family statement criticised social media users for insensitive remarks and said Oscar's grieving process was âincredibly overwhelming'.
This is at odds with an account given by a woman at Saturday's party, who said: âHe was drinking shooters and he was flirtatious. He didn't seem like someone [who had] lost the love of his life.'
Five people who said they saw a ârelaxed-looking' Pistorius said his arrival at the venue's private dining area, after 9pm, was frowned upon by some guests.
âOne moment we are all talking and laughing and the next in walks Oscar,' one said.
âHe's the last person we expected to see ⦠I can't believe he showed his face in public, carrying on as if nothing's happened.'
Pistorius, sporting a beard, is said to have flirted with several women. âHe was greeting a couple and then gave the woman a little pat on her backside. It was just so inappropriate,' said the guest.
Burgess told the Sunday Times yesterday that Pistorius âstrenuously and vigorously denies any inappropriate behaviour towards any people or women present, or “partying it up” with shooters'.
It would later emerge that earlier on the day of the Kitchen Bar incident, Oscar also attended a private party in Illovo. According to the
Sunday Times,
he was awkward at first but after several drinks began hitting on a Reeva lookalike, FHM model and lawyer Kesiah Frank:
But once he had knocked back a few drinks and shooters, Pistorius bounced back, according to guests who watched him. He then targeted Frank.
Pistorius took to the dance floor and kept asking the blonde beauty to accompany him to another party, several guests said this week.
He grabbed her hand to dance and flirted, giving up only after all his advances were rejected.
Also in attendance at the private party was former Brett Kebble murder accused and convicted drug peddler Glenn Agliotti. A guest at the party tells us that Agliotti made a point of welcoming Oscar to the event: âGlenn did the braaing and Oscar came with his friend Craig Lipshitz. A model was there, two of Nelson Mandela's granddaughters were there. It was a
jol
, hey. Okes were a little bit nervous at first when Oscar arrived and we weren't quite sure what the
vibe was going to be. But then Glenn made a little welcoming speech. He said, “Oscar, come here. No one's going to do anything. You're amongst friends here. We support you.” There was a horse race that everyone had to watch because the guy whose birthday it was had a horse. It came third,' says the guest.
Agliotti confirms he was at the braai and that he welcomed Oscar. âI didn't recognise him; he was sporting a beard. Craig introduced me and then I just welcomed him to the braai. I just said to him he must stay strong and hold his head up high. After what I had been through, I knew. A lot of people felt sympathetic towards him before the case started. He was very quiet, very reserved, stuck to himself. He didn't say two words to me.'
More recently, in July 2014, in the run-up to closing arguments in the murder trial, Oscar was allegedly involved in an altercation with businessman Jared Mortimer at the VIP Room in Sandton.
Mortimer told us that Oscar was in the company of former bouncer Guil Yahav, who had been previously acquitted of a murder charge. Yahav introduced Mortimer to Oscar. Mortimer is a close friend of former footballer Marc Batchelor, who had had his own run-in with Oscar previously, as well as self-confessed hit man Mikey Schultz. Oscar was moving in controversial circles at a time when he could ill afford to do so.
Yahav says Oscar called him earlier that afternoon to ask if he was keen to go out for a few drinks. âHe doesn't have many friends left in Joburg, so he probably wanted me to look after him that night,' Yahav says. The pair go back many years â Yahav attended Oscar's 21st birthday party at Hartbeespoort Dam.
It was also not unusual for Oscar to call Yahav looking for protection. âHe often got into trouble. He used to call me from Pretoria at 3am, crying, drunk and emotional, saying he has problems. He could get a bit out of hand.'
The athlete met Yahav at the Marco Polo lounge in Sandton. âWhen he first saw me he had a sorry face, but that changed quickly. He said his legal fees were costing him a fortune and running into millions. He was chatting to other girls,' adds Yahav.
The ex-bouncer says that by the time they decided to head over to the VIP Room, Oscar was âwell on his way'. En route to the club, they bumped into the athlete's cousin and her friend, who joined them.
Mortimer claims Oscar was drunk and aggressive and was slagging off his friends Justin Divaris and Darren Fresco for selling him out. He was also allegedly bragging about how influential his family was and pulled out his phone to show off pictures of army vehicles and allegedly said, âMy family owns SANDF. I'll piss on Zuma.'
If it is true, it wouldn't have been the first time Oscar had shown contempt for
the president. In January 2013, as the African Union's peace torchbearer during the African Cup of Nations tournament, he was scheduled to appear at a children's football match with Zuma in the Alexandra township in Johannesburg.
The previous night, 16 January, Oscar and Reeva were exchanging messages and making plans for the following day. âWant to come. Meet zuma?' he asked at 10:49pm in a WhatsApp message.
âill kick his nuts,' responded Reeva.
âHe is a runt. Rather have a chilled day,' said the athlete.
Oscar's apparent claim that his family âowns' the defence force in South Africa may have been a reference to a company, owned by his uncle Theo, that builds and supplies armoured cars. N4 Trucks âre-manufactures' armoured military vehicles that are used for guarding and peace-keeping efforts.
At the VIP Room in Sandton, the discussion between Oscar and Mortimer became heated. Yahav said he couldn't hear what was being discussed, but Oscar leaned over to him and said that he wanted to sort Jared out. âI said he'll do nothing of the sort and told him to sit down and behave.' The argument escalated to the point that the pair pushed each other around until Oscar fell backwards onto a chair. Bouncers then stepped in.
Yahav says he was disappointed at how âarrogant' Oscar was.
Oscar's version of events was vastly different from that of Mortimer and Yahav. His PR agent issued a statement saying he was provoked:
We can confirm that Oscar was at a night club with one of his cousins. They sat in a quiet area of the private VIP section when they were approached by the individual identified as Mr Mortimer. The individual in question, according to our client, started to aggressively engage him on matters relating to the trial. An argument ensued during which our client asked to be left alone. Oscar left soon thereafter with his cousin. Our client regrets the decision to go into a public place and thereby inviting unwelcome attention.
Oscar's uncle Leo also issued a statement that gave some insight into the athlete's state of mind at the time:
Whilst Oscar venturing out into a public space with his cousin, in the current climate and whilst his court case is still underway was unwise, those of us closest to him have been witness to his escalating sense of loneliness and alienation. This, we believe, is underlying some of his
self-harming behaviour. As a family we are counselling Oscar to find ways of dealing with his feelings of isolation.
Leo also acknowledged that Oscar may have made a mistake by going to the club:
Being in a public space such as this, and thereby putting himself in a place where this kind of confrontation could take place, was ill-considered. We do however believe that Oscar is grappling with an extreme level of emotional pain that is manifesting itself in some of his recent unwise actions and choices.
It was evident that Oscar was finding it difficult to handle the immense pressure of being at the centre of such intense public scrutiny and was overwhelmed by the months of standing trial for his girlfriend's murder.
In late May 2013, Sky News broke an exclusive. It had managed to secure photographs of the bloody bathroom after the shooting, and images showing the bullet-riddled door and pools of blood in the toilet cubicle were featured in the network's news bulletins. It was suspected that the photographs had been leaked by the police.
A few weeks earlier, the former lead investigator in the case, Hilton Botha, reportedly stated that media houses had offered to pay officers for exclusive pictures of Oscar after he had been arrested. A foreign media house even apparently offered a police officer R458 000 for a photograph of the toilet door.
As a result, the cellphones of 45 officers working on the case were confiscated and an official investigation was launched.
âWe wanted to get the original photograph that was sent to Sky to see if we can't access the background information on the photograph to see what camera was used but no one wanted to help us,' reveals a police officer close to the case, who doesn't want to be named.
âThere was an official enquiry at the head office. All the police officials on the crime scene, all the cellphones were examined and downloaded. It was an instruction from the national commissioner. There was a big meeting at head office in the boardroom. Everyone who was on the crime scene had to report there, and when they walked in they said, “Instruction from the National
Commissioner, hand over your phone. Hand over.” And they did the extractions there. All the cameras as well. Because those photos are not from the crime scene album, they're different. They also took all the cameras and examined them as well. And nothing,' says the officer.
âThere's one or two cops that were on the crime scene who resigned. Their phones weren't examined. And then there was one or two guys that, when their phones were seized, it wasn't the phones that were used the day of the crime.'
In the end, no one was caught â but it is likely that a police officer made a lot of money selling those photographs, although Sky News has denied ever paying for them.
The leak came just days before Oscar was due to make another appearance in court on 4 June 2013. His routine appearance before acting Magistrate Daniel Thulare was, however, brief as the prosecution asked for a postponement to allow the police to conduct further investigations relevant to the case.
But Thulare used the opportunity to send a warning to the media. Although he didn't mention the Sky News photos directly, the insinuation was clear. Thulare expressed concern over a potential âtrial by media' and told the state to investigate how information related to the case was being released into the public domain. During that routine court appearance, the case was postponed for two months. On the next day in court, the trial date would be set, the docket handed over to the defence, the indictment served and the witness list confirmed. This appearance inadvertently fell on what would have been Reeva Steenkamp's 30th birthday on 19 August 2013.
Just days before Oscar was set to appear in court in August 2013, Gina Myers, her sister Kim, mother Desi and attorney Ian Levitt sat at a table on the roof terrace of a Hyde Park hotel. Their large dark glasses served a dual purpose, shielding the glare of the winter sun and discreetly hiding their red-rimmed eyes. The raw wound of Reeva's death was far from healing.
Gina reflected on the time they had spent with Reeva on her 29th birthday and how Gina would mark the occasion this time around. âI think back to her birthday last year; we all went to Mimo's. That's where she wanted to go for her birthday and she had a sparkler! It's very surreal and it still doesn't feel real. The other day it was six months and that's just mind-boggling on another level. So the fact that it's her birthday and she's not here â¦' she tails off.
âWe always usually have cake and we sat down for cupcakes all the time and
now instead of having it with her, we are now going to have cupcakes for her, which is a little bit of a surreal thought and I think it can make us cry at any point, but we have to try and remember her and we have to try celebrate her, as hard as it is going to be. I think we will try our best to celebrate her.'
