In their 2016 book, Oscar vs. The Truth, amateur sleuths Calvin and Thomas Mollett claimed that Oscar Pistorius beat Reeva Steenkamp with a cricket bat before firing fatal shots through a locked lavatory door, killing her.
Although the Pistorius family immediately condemned the brothers as “amateur forensic hobbyists” seeking fame and money, Dr. David Klatzow, a forensic scientist who followed the case closely, agreed with the brothers that the police investigation was “extraordinarily bad” and that many aspects of the evidence remained “unexplained.”
The authors argued that police investigating the St. Valentine’s Day shooting started from the point that they had a strong case against Pistorius.
As a result, the book says, they contaminated the scene, for example by walking over the lavatory door and moving the gun. Police also overlooked vital clues, such as possible drag marks made in the blood stains by Pistorius walking on his stumps and unexplained damage done to a metal plate near the model’s body.
“One gets the impression that police arrived on the scene and thought they had an open-and-shut case against Oscar,” the authors write. “They knew he pulled the trigger, and had statements from the neighbours who heard a woman scream – why bother doing a proper forensic investigation.”
The book also claims that two oval bruises on the model’s back, previously attributed to her falling on a magazine rack as she was shot, could have been made by the corner of the cricket bat Pistorius told the court he used to break down the lavatory door.
Oscar Pistorius, a celebrated Paralympic athlete, claimed he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder hiding in his bathroom and fired four shots in self-defense.
However, his narrative faced significant skepticism due to inconsistencies in testimony, forensic evidence, and witness accounts.
Experts argued that the secure nature of Pistorius’s residence made his assertion of an intruder implausible.
Additionally, the trajectory of the bullets and forensic analysis contradicted Pistorius’s claim that he was on his stumps and feeling vulnerable during the shooting.
In court, the prosecution presented evidence of prior domestic disturbances and messages indicating tension between Pistorius and Steenkamp, suggesting the pair was in a troubled relationship and reinforcing a possible motive for intentional harm.
Neighbors testified to hearing a woman’s screams before shots were fired, suggesting there might have been a confrontation prior to the fatal incident.
Despite Pistorius clinging to his intruder theory, the court concluded that the Paralympian must have anticipated that firing multiple shots through a locked door could result in fatal harm.
Combined with evidence of his behavior after the shooting, the court ultimately ruled that Pistorius had intentionally killed Steenkamp and found him guilty of culpable homicide in 2014.
His conviction was later upgraded to murder, resulting in a 13-year and five-month prison sentence.
After serving nearly nine years, Pistorius was released on parole in January 2024.
