[imagesource: Getty]

After a long spell away from the headlines, Oscar Pistorius is once again back in the news.

That is due, in part, to the fact that ESPN’s The Life and Trials of Oscar Pistorius, a four-part documentary which had been in production for several years, has been airing on ESPN+ these past few weeks.

After a slew of poorly put together documentaries and dramatisations, ESPN’s effort may well turn out to be the seminal look at how Oscar fell from grace.

He is also back in the news after international media outlets reported on comments attributed to his former headteacher, Bill Schroder, who said that Oscar is desperate for forgiveness from Reeva Steenkamp’s family.

This from the Independent on what Schroder said Oscar told him:

“What he really, really wants is forgiveness.

“I said to him that if he had killed my daughter, I doubt I would forgive him.

“He is more concerned about forgiveness than actually getting out on parole. In fact, he has a real fear about getting parole as he knows there will be a backlash.”

Schroder is said to have visited Pistorius four times in prison, with the Witness reporting that “the Blade Runner had given up exercise, started smoking, grown a big beard and turned to God”.

He also maintains to this day that the shooting was an accident, says Schroder:

“He [Oscar] quoted a study by an expert that when you are woken from a deep sleep and are put into a situation of fear that you act very differently to when fully conscious. I listened to him but did not buy it.”

When Oscar’s father, Henke, was approached for comment, he said his son has been asking for forgiveness since that day in February 2013.

Below via IOL:

“Oscar has already, from the start and over and over asked for forgiveness. He told the first witness who came on the scene how sorry he was. “He asked everyone’s forgiveness and said he would work for the Lord for the rest of his life if Reeva’s life could be spared.”

Image: Reuters

Henke [above] said he had not seen his son recently in the jail in Atteridgeville where he is serving his prison term, as the Covid-19 restrictions made it difficult. But he said during the times he had visited his son, he repeatedly said, “I am sorry, dad”.

“He has begged so many times for forgiveness. This thing is torturing him,” the father said.

A lawyer for the Steenkamp family said that Reeva’s parents, June and Barry, did not wish to comment.

In 2018, June stated that she had forgiven Oscar, but was not interested in talking to him, and still wanted him punished.

Both June and Barry were said to be closely involved with My Name Is Reeva, a documentary aimed at telling her side of the story “through the eyes of her loved ones”.

At this stage, it’s not known how the production of that documentary has progressed.

[sources:independent&iol]