Oscar Pistorius 'was told to back off from Reeva Steenkamp'
Oscar Pistorius subjected Reeva Steenkamp to such intense emotional pressure in the early days of the relationship that her best friend's father was forced to warm him to "back off".
4:30PM GMT 24 Feb 2013
Cyril Myers, who Miss Steenkamp lived with in Johannesburg said he had found Pistorius to be "very moody" as he wooed the young model who felt caged in by his attentions.
"Very nice and charming to us when they started dating. Then he always came in to say hello. But when they began to date steadily, he just dropped her and picked her up.
"That's not right. I call it respect. If you're in a relationship and you pick up the 'daughter' in the house, at least come in and say hello." After the couple's first date, Pistorius "would not leave her alone", Mr Myers said.
Reeva Steenkamp with Oscar Pistorius at the SA Sports Awards (Reuters)
"He kept pestering her, phoning and phoning and phoning her. Oscar was hasty and impatient and very moody – that's my impression of him.
"She told me he pushed her a bit into a corner. She felt caged in. I told her I would talk to him. I told him not to force himself on her. Back off.
"He agreed, but his face showed me what he was thinking: 'Oh, this guy is talking nonsense'."
Mr Myers described his anger when he heard about Reeva's death, and that it was Pistorius who had killed her.
"She was my little girl, and he shot her four times from behind a closed door. One shot may have been a mistake – but four times?," he said.
"I have a printing business, and I had large, framed photographs of Oscar and myself. I smashed them all. I don't want to know anything about him.
Miss Steenkamp had lived with Mr Myers, a commercial printer, and his wife Desi since September, and the couple's daughter Kim was the model's closest friend in the city.
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Reeva Steenkamp into the crematorium building in Port Elizabeth (AFP/Getty Images)
He said the Paralympian would have to live with his conscience regardless of the outcome of the forthcoming trial.
"I wouldn't do anything to him, because when it's finished and done, he must live with it. I hope he gets a long sentence. Gets what he deserves.
"People will stay away from him now. Women too, they will be too afraid, no girl wants her a**e shot off. And if my daughter wanted to go out with him, the pawpaw would hit the proverbial fan." Mr Myers said he had decided to talk to the newspaper because, "everywhere you go, it's just Oscar, Oscar".
"But Reeva was the victim, her voice must be heard too. People must know who Reeva Steenkamp was," he said.
did not originally plan to stay with Oscar Pistorius the night she died but changed her mind because it became too late for her to drive home safely, her best friend's father has said.
Oscar Pistorius with Reeva Steenkamp at a friend's engagement party in January
Miss Steenkamp, who grew up in Port Elizabeth, used to introduce him to her friends as her "Joburg dad".
"I've got this thing with all three children (Reeva, and his daughters, Kim and Gina), if they don't come home at night, they must text me," Mr Myers told South Africa's City Press newspaper.
"Then Reeva sent the (SMS) message: 'Hi guys, I'm too tired. It's too far to drive. I'm sleeping at Oscar's tonight. See you tomorrow'.
"Tomorrow never dawned for her I have nightmares at night thinking how frightened she must have been. Can you imagine how terrified she was?"
Police asked Mr Myers, his daughter, Kim, and his son, David, formally to identify Miss Steenkamp's body the morning that she was killed.
"We looked at her through a glass window. She was . . . you know . . . the way someone looks who has been shot . . . The police tried to make it easier for us," he said.
He did not describe Miss Steenkamp's injuries further. Police on Sunday denied reports that Pistorius used a cricket bat found at his house to assault his girlfriend before shooting her.
Mr Myers, who identified Miss Steenkamp's body, told the Daily Telegraph that he was "surprised" by reports that she had been assaulted with a cricket bat.
"When I identified Reeva, I saw no indication of that", he said. "The first I knew about it was when I read it in the papers. I do not know where that came from".
No such evidence was entered by the prosecution during pre-trial proceedings to decide if Pistorius would be granted bail, even though it would likely have affected the magistrate's ruling.
cl.......to me this story has many of the hallmarks of domestic violence........
