One Tragic Night (15 page)

Despite running a personal best 46.25 in the 400 metres at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting in Lucerne, Oscar failed to meet the Olympic ‘A' standard qualifying time by 0.70 seconds. His ability to train had clearly been derailed by the ongoing scientific testing and court proceedings and he was forced to be realistic. Instead, his focus shifted to the Paralympics in Beijing where he wowed, overcoming disappointment by winning the sprint triple – the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres races.

Oscar had tasted Paralympic Gold again and with the door open to him to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, his gaze was set on London in 2012. By this stage, his star had also been elevated and he had been launched as a global superstar. ‘The fastest man with no legs', as he was endearingly labelled, was named in
Time
magazine's list of 100 most influential people, listed third in the ‘Heroes and Pioneers' category. He became the face of international fashion brands such as Thierry Mugler, Oakley and Nike. He also developed an appetite for the fast life, driving luxury sports cars and indulging his passion for firearms.

But cracks also began to appear in the golden boy's public profile, and he occasionally made the headlines for the wrong reasons. And yet, despite this, the shine never quite tarnished – no one wanted to face up to the athlete's less inspirational qualities.

He realised the boat was filling with water. All he had heard was the splintering sound of the crash and knew he had to keep calm. He lifted his hand to his face and felt blood. He could also feel that much of his face was smashed in from the nose down.

As paramedics rushed to the scene of the accident at the Vaal River, so too did Oscar Pistorius's cousins. The group had been enjoying a Saturday out on the water on 21 February 2009. Some wanted to return to shore and Oscar
suggested they travel with his cousin in another boat. The athlete and a friend, John, wanted to take a slow sunset cruise.

Oscar testified in his murder trial about the events leading up to the accident.

‘We were on the water, I guess about just before six o' clock. We met some of my family and friends at another place on the water and on returning, there were a couple of people on my boat and some of them were in a rush to get back to the house to cook dinner and so my cousin was in another boat and I suggested that they go with him, as we were just taking a leisurely cruise up the river and it was just my friend John and I in the boat and at a point we were just chatting, sitting and chatting and at a point he stood up to, I think to light a cigarette or to make a phone call and at that point he shouted and I looked forward and I could not see anything.

‘The Vaal river runs from east to west, and we were heading back west, so the sun was setting in front of us and I could only see the sun on the water, and a couple of seconds later, I just remember the sounds of the propeller, the boat, and I hit the steering wheel and the propeller went into the air. I remember the sound of the engine.'

The accident changed Oscar's life – he ‘thought it was all over'. He was airlifted to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg where he spent five days in intensive care, three of which were in a medically induced coma. He suffered serious head and facial injuries, a broken jaw, a smashed eye socket and broken ribs as a result of the impact.

While Oscar didn't go into detail about the crash in his autobiography, he did acknowledge that he needed to be more responsible. ‘I love racing, speedboats, cars and bikes. My love of racing is something I need to keep in check; I can't afford the risk of getting hurt and disrupting my training. I guess I learnt that the hard way, with 180 stitches and several broken bones from a massive accident in 2009, when my speedboat hit a submerged pier. But, truth be told, I've been breaking bones all my life.'

Reports following the crash suggested that all was not as innocent as it seemed. Initially, it was reported that the boat had hit a submerged tree stump but then it was revealed that he had actually crashed into a jetty.

Bottles of alcohol had reportedly been found on the recovered boat and eyewitnesses told us that members of Oscar's party were ‘rat-faced' drunk. At the time, a witness also told
The Times
newspaper that the runner had been at the Stonehaven River Pub before the accident ‘watching rugby and having a few drinks'. Oscar's manager Peet van Zyl confirmed that he had been at the pub but denied the drinking. Oscar also denied being drunk during the incident when he testified in his murder trial years later.

Police confirmed that they were investigating the possibility that the consumption of alcohol had played a role in the accident and were considering a case of negligent driving.

Oscar's blood alcohol was not tested following the crash. The blood alcohol limit for operators of water-borne vessels is 0.05 grams alcohol per 100 milliltres blood – the same as for motorists. Two weeks after the incident the National Prosecuting Authority took a decision not to prosecute Oscar. ‘There are not sufficient grounds,' then National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed.

However, after Oscar testified about the incident in court, the same eyewitness who had told us about the incident in 2009 came forward to the Daily Maverick and Eyewitness News alleging that the athlete had lied about the incident during his testimony. Michael Aitken, a property owner on the Vaal and MD of a telecommunications company, was on the scene of the accident, and took issue with Oscar's claim that the accident had happened at sunset because the setting sun was in his eyes.

‘It's such an absolute fib. He says this thing scarred him. It would scar you if you crash into a stationary object in the middle of the night while tearing down the river in party mode.'

Aitken says he and 11 guests were eating dinner at his weekend home, after 8pm, when his butler came to inform him that there were people ‘crying' in the river.

‘I, together with a guest, Mr Markus Schorn, ran to my boat, which was moored in the river, and began to search for the people who were calling. As it was very dark, it took a few minutes to locate the people. We found two men standing chest deep in the water. The one was calling frantically and the other, standing hugging himself, appeared to be in shock. They seemed to be unaware that the river bank was only a metre or two behind them, and that they could have walked out of the water.'

Aitken says he didn't see any damage to Oscar's face and his boat had sunk without a trace. They were about to take the men aboard his boat when another barge approached at speed. ‘The people on board called out to us to leave as the men in the river were “their people”. Mr Schorn and I concurred in our opinion that the people on the barge appeared to be very drunk. This was made more apparent by the actions of a young woman on the barge who leapt into the water from the bow of the moving barge, narrowly avoiding injury.'

Aitken is adamant that the crash happened hours after the sun had set. ‘In my mind it was round about nine o'clock at night. It was very dark and we had
difficulty finding these guys in the dark.' Schorn has also confirmed Aitken's version of events.

Media reports in 2009 gave various times for the accident having taken place from 20:30 until 22:00, all well after sunset. The Daily Maverick quoted another individual, not part of Aitken's dining group, as saying that he had an altercation with Oscar on the river that same evening, which occurred ‘long' after sunset – and before the accident.

After Oscar's testimony in court, a pleasure-boat operator at the Vaal made another revelation to us. He claims that he had a confrontation with the athlete after sunset on the night of the incident, that Oscar was drunk and that he showed him his gun.

The operator, who does not want to be named, says that around 30 people were having a party on the top deck of his boat, when Oscar and two friends pulled up wanting to buy drinks.

‘His boat was full of booze, bottles, bottles, all over the place. They were pissed as farts. They called us a bunch of Engelsmanne [Englishmen], we told him he was a Dutchman and should fuck off. He said, “Do you know who I am? My name is Oscar Pistorius. I'm the Blade Runner.” He lifted up his shirt and showed me his gun in his shorts. Then he put his shirt down, climbed into his boat and left. That was at about 7:30pm. The police came to me the next morning and asked if I want to lay a charge. I said no, there was no fight, he was just cheeky.'

We have not been able to confirm whether this incident took place, but Aitken, Schorn and the pleasure-boat operator all cast doubt on Oscar's version that his boating accident had occurred at sunset.

In the same year as the boating incident, the National Prosecuting Authority was again called upon to consider whether or not to prosecute Oscar Pistorius in a court of law. The golden boy, with a squeaky clean reputation, shocked many when he was arrested following an apparent assault at a house party at his Silver Woods home. He spent a night in the holding cells at the Boschkop police station after being charged with grievous bodily harm to student Cassidy Taylor-Memmory. The charge was downgraded and eventually dropped but Oscar's reputation was impacted by the publicity around the incident and the matter resulted in a messy civil dispute that dragged on for years.

Taylor-Memmory, a timid, young blogger from Pretoria, who runs a website called The Glam Green Girl, attended a party at Oscar's house on 12 September
2009. Her friend Melissa Rom was dating the athlete at the time and Taylor-Memmory had only met him once before. She and two other friends arrived late as they had been at their part-time student jobs. She claims she and her friends sat in the garden enjoying the party until Oscar and his girlfriend began to fight.

‘This led to Oscar asking all of Melissa's friends to leave, using vulgar language. I had left my handbag in the garden where we all had been sitting and needed to get back into his property to fetch it. As I approached his large outside doors, Oscar was furiously trying to close them. He started to punch the door and that is when one of the top door panels fell and hit my left leg. Six weeks prior to the party my plaster cast had just come off after having reconstructive surgery on my left ankle. After this happened I went to tell Oscar that he had hurt me to which he replied, “Well, go call your fucking lawyer”,' recalls Taylor-Memmory.

‘After the incident at Oscar's house I arrived home and was hysterically crying. Like any loving parents would do, my parents wanted to protect me and my mom and dad felt it was best to let the police deal with the matter and for them to decide what should be done. The police saw the cut on my leg and they thought it would be best to open a case of assault against Oscar,' she recounts. Taylor-Memmory's mother opened the case with the Boschkop police and investigating officer Hilton Botha was appointed to the case.

This was the first time the policeman met the athlete. Curiously, Taylor-Memmory's lawyer Ladine Botha told the
Mail & Guardian
that records at the police station did not show that Oscar was either processed or booked in there and that the cell's register book did not reflect his name. Hilton Botha also chose not to raise this prior arrest during Oscar's bail application following Reeva's death but was pushed into divulging the details by the enquiring magistrate.

At around 10pm on the Saturday night, the 22-year-old athlete was arrested on a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. After being held in custody overnight, the charge was downgraded to assault. Oscar released a statement saying that he had asked Taylor-Memmory to leave the party and she reacted unhappily, kicking the door, which broke, injuring her. ‘I categorically deny that I in any way assaulted the woman,' said Oscar. He also accused Taylor-Memmory of consuming alcohol and becoming abusive to other guests at the party. He claims he had asked her to leave because her ‘abusive behaviour' was upsetting the guests. She was escorted out, he said, and he closed the door behind her.