The heartbroken parents of Reeva Steenkamp have reacted angrily to the verdict handed down to Oscar Pistorius, saying his acquittal on a charge of murder was not justice for their daughter.
June and Barry Steenkamp did an interview with American TV network NBC after the judge found the Olympian guilty of culpable homicide, saying she believed his version that he fired four shots in the mistaken belief there was an intruder in his home.
The couple, who travelled to Pretoria from their Port Elizabeth home for the verdict, said they were extremely disappointed with the outcome.
"I just don't feel that this is the right [verdict], you know, they believe his story, and I don't believe that story, that's the difference," June Steenkamp said in a excerpt of what's believed to be a longer interview to be aired later today.
"We had messages from all over the world ... she died a horrible death. A horrible, painful, death, and she suffered you know, and he shot through the door and I can't believe that they believe that it was an accident."
Mrs Steenkamp said she didn't really have a view on an appropriate sentence.
"I really don't care what happens to Oscar, it's not going to change anything because my daughter's never coming back," she said.
"He's still living and breathing, you know, and she's gone forever."
"We were shocked. Shocked. Disappointed," June Steenkamp later told Britain's ITV News. "You know your heart drops because you just want the truth," she said.
Barry Steenkamp, who suffered a stroke after his daughter was killed in the early hours of February 14 last year, said there was "disbelief from everyone" about Judge Thokozile Masipa's decision.
"There is still something missing," Mr Steenkamp told ITV News. "I think there was more to the whole story, you know, coming up to the actual shooting, the killing."
