As the country (and the world) followed the long, drawn out court proceedings that were the Oscar trial his family also became mini celebrities.

Brother Carl tweeted (HERE), sister Aimee sung the praises of Reeva (HERE), uncle Arnold housed him at his infamous Waterkloof mansion – but many were left scratching their heads at where father Henke was.

Well he finally sat down for an interview in the wake of the NPA filing an appeal against Oscar’s six-year sentence, and here’s some of what he had to say according to News24:

“I am now speaking out for Oscar. I am standing up for my child. I remained silent for too long. I stood back. Now that’s over,” said Henke, himself an attorney…

“I don’t have to defend myself, that I’m an absent father. Let them say so. It doesn’t matter.”

What people didn’t know was that Henke was often just two blocks away, watching proceedings from the advocates’ chambers.

“I am part of the family; we go out and eat together. But [Oscar’s uncle] Arnold and I are no longer close, the way we were when were schoolboys causing trouble and getting hidings together. Priorities began to differ, that’s all I can say.”

He saw his son in jail a few times, but the long, open-hearted discussion between father and son he had so hoped for never happened.

“We hug each other, but not a lot is said. Because I am the father, and a mistake was made, a tragic mistake. There isn’t really anything more to say.”

Henke saved his most stinging criticism for Barry Roux and the defence team, which is where he starts taking on the role of forensic scientist. And go:

According to Nel, sentencing must be focused on the fact that a person who was behind a toilet door and who presented no immediate danger to the accused was shot.

“Rubbish! For God’s sake, forget this guessing game of who was standing behind the toilet door, where and how. If Reeva was trying to get away – the State alleged she was running away from a ‘gun-wielding Oscar’ – she would have hidden in the opposite corner, or next to the wall alongside the door. She wouldn’t have been sitting on the toilet.”

Henke claims that he performed calculations on the four bullet holes in the toilet door – measuring a square around the bullet holes and comparing it to how much space a person of Reeva’s height would have to stand – and reached his own shocking conclusion.

“If you look at the trajectory of the bullets, it’s clear: If she was standing in the opposite corner, or next to the wall alongside the door, the chances of her being hit were less than 1%.

“That’s irrespective of the fact that the bullets went through the door at a height of lower than 1m and all of them had a downward trajectory, which would hardly have been able to fatally injure a standing person. Now, 1% is miles from the reality Nel is trying to create.

“God only knows how something so obvious was overlooked. To me, it’s totally inexplicable.”

Oscar’s father claims he has brought this to the attention of Barry Roux and uncle Arnold, although both have chosen to ignore it. This has clearly angered the man:

“It’s shocking, actually. The cardinal questions were not asked! I’m . . . bedonnerd [enraged] about it, to put it lightly. Furious with everyone who was involved because I said it over and over.”

Henke said he even told Roux a few days before the verdict that he hoped this oversight didn’t become Oscar’s Achilles heel.

“And then that was precisely what happened. In her judgment, Judge Thokozile Masipa said three times: the toilet was so small, Oscar knew that if he was shooting through the door he would probably hit a person.”

He had a further rant about some of the evidence used against Oscar in court, the full details of which you can read HERE.

No one can really blame a father for sticking by his son, but one has to take that evidence with a pinch of salt.

[source:news24]