One Tragic Night (24 page)

Nair, however, wanted a valid reason why the accused would be held at a police station, considering that it is standard to be detained at the local prison. The magistrate wanted to ensure that Oscar did not receive any preferential treatment by virtue of the fact that he was a celebrity. The world was watching the case unfold, searching for any glitch in the system or preferential treatment for the celebrity accused.

‘We have obtained permission from the station commander. The reason being that we have limited time, we need to do after-hour consultations … We need to deal with information as we receive it and take it up with the accused and in the normal prison situation you cannot do that after hours,' explained Roux, making the point that there were no visitation hours at Pretoria Central Prison. Nel supported the request.

As court was adjourned, Oscar stood up to leave. He glanced back over his right shoulder at his sister and father. Henke stretched out his hand to touch his son,
but as he did so, Oscar flinched, turned his back on his father and walked out of the dock, back into the holding cells.

Shortly after the proceedings, the Pistorius family issued a statement disputing the charge of murder ‘in the strongest terms':

Oscar was transported to the Brooklyn police station where he would be held in a single cell for the weekend.

While the focus had been on the courtroom in Pretoria, Cecil Myers and his son were confronting the distressing task of identifying Reeva's body at the mortuary. Cecil had taken on the responsibility on behalf of her parents in Port Elizabeth.

The thick white plastic body bag was wheeled into the autopsy room on a gurney. The red tag that clasped together two zips, making a tamper-proof seal, bore a printed ID number that corresponded with documents the police had provided to the mortuary services. The number identified the deceased. It was 24 hours after Oscar had killed Reeva and the model had now become, as indicated on the bag, ‘Property of Gauteng Forensic Pathology Service'.

The pathologist tasked with conducting the autopsy, Professor Gert Saayman, and nine other pathology and police officials waited in the autopsy room for Reeva to arrive.

The staff donned their plastic aprons and red-soled gumboots. With them were police blood spatter expert Ian van der Nest and his crime scene photographer colleague Bennie van Staden, in their dark-blue SAPS-issued overalls, chevron reflectors on the short sleeves, the type worn by crime scene investigators. Investigating officer Hilton Botha was amongst the delegation of SAPS officials in attendance. He and some of the other visitors to the unit were given baby-blue disposable bibs with matching bootees, which covered their well-polished black leather shoes. It was this type of disposable bootees that would be the cause of much consternation for Botha a few days later when he took the stand in Oscar's bail application. All except Saayman wore the blue surgical gloves.

The professor wore a white lab coat, with his name and designation pinned over his chest, just above his heart. His black Bic pen etched notes onto a dozen pages held fast by a steel clamp biting down on an old clipboard. The top-right section of chipboard had seemingly been broken off some time ago.

Saayman is not only head of pathology services in the province, a position he's held since 1998, but also head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the
University of Pretoria. A highly regarded expert in the field, he has conducted over 15 000 autopsies during his career and his process of preparation was a familiar one to him.

Also attending the postmortem was independent pathologist Dr Reggie Perumal. He would be listed as number 9 on the list of witnesses present in Saayman's official report. Perumal regularly testifies in court cases against the state. He featured in the case of the death of former South African cricketer Tertius Bosch, the trial of socialite Rajiv Narandas accused of murder, and is on brief for the Legal Resources Centre to investigate the Marikana miners' shooting in 2012. He was also hired by the Zimbabwean vice-president Joice Mujuru to help investigate the murder of her husband ZANU-PF heavyweight Solomon Mujuru. Perumal grew up in Chatsworth and studied medicine at the University of Durban-Westville. He worked at the district surgeon's office before going into the private sector in 1994, at the age of 39.

Oscar's hired expert had been dispatched from Durban at short notice on a watching brief to take notes and report back to Oldwadge and Roux. In a situation like this, the professor provides the audience with running commentary of his findings. In the event there is a major discrepancy in the findings, the pair could sort it out then and there by asking another pathologist for his or her opinion, or take tissue samples or photographic evidence to be discussed at a later stage. The parties have to come to consensus before the body is released to the family, however, because there is generally no opportunity to go back and reconduct the autopsy. It was likely that both men would be called as witnesses in a potential trial and their expert opinions weighed in opposition for the prosecution and defence.

The body bag seal was broken and the zips parted to reveal Reeva's naked body. Beside her inside the bag were the items of clothing she had been wearing when she had died – a light-grey pair of Nike shorts and a black sleeveless top.

The shorts were unfolded and held up in front of a photographer, revealing that the right side was stained crimson red. Closer inspection of the elastic waistband revealed a very small, round hole corresponding with the wound on Reeva's hip.

‘This appearance is not inconsistent with having been caused by a projectile from a firearm,' said the professor, while recording his finding on the clipboard.

While Saayman constantly voiced his observations, the click of camera shutters echoed in the clinically clean autopsy room – these would be the last photos taken of the young model.

The black vest had several holes torn open on its right side and was covered
with bits of human flesh and bone fragments. Found amongst the fibres and overlooked by investigators on the crime scene was a small piece of bullet shrapnel. An official handed it over to the evidence officer before it was sealed and labelled, along with the two items of clothing. The packet would be reopened several months later for the items to be photographed again but by then the blood on the shorts had dried to a dull brown.

Reeva's body was removed from the body bag and placed on her back on a cold stainless steel table. Her once finely manicured and pampered hands had been sealed inside clear police evidence bags to preserve any evidence investigators might harvest from under her nails. Two bracelets on her left wrist bore numbers linking the body to case files and other evidence – the plastic wristband, not unlike the ones worn in hospital, had the number 48 scratched on to it in black ink, while the cable tie held in place a larger tag – DR188/13. Reeva was just a number.

Her body was still caked in blood, and had to be documented in that state before the autopsy could proceed any further. The ECG stickers above and below her breasts were still in place. Measurement rulers were held up against her and the first pictures snapped included another identity tag: 15/2/13 R STEENKAMP.

The men used their surgical gloves to manoeuvre her head into position for the cameras. Her blonde hair, the exact shade of which she had spent hours agonising over, was now red, matted together with blood and brain matter. The plastic evidence bags were removed before she was rolled onto her side to reveal wounds on her back, which was now turning purple as the blood in her body settled; only where her skin was in contact with a surface did it retain its pallor complexion. It was only then that her body was cleaned. The blood and tissue were washed off, revealing hundreds of tiny light-brown freckles on Reeva's face. She wore no make-up, her finely plucked and sculpted eyebrows free of the fine spatter kicked up when she was struck by the bullets.

‘In the right frontoparietal area in the hairy scalp is a penetrating wound with irregular shape and irregular edges,' muttered Saayman, jotting down his notes. He was referring to the top-right side of Reeva's head where she had been struck by a bullet. The full extent of the damage was not immediately clear. Although her hair had been rinsed, blood still covered most of the wound. A razor was used to shave away a palm-sized section of her hair, revealing two holes through her skull – an entrance gunshot wound, and the exit wound.

The professor moved on to Reeva's right arm. Just above the crease where the elbow bends was a small hole, identified as another gunshot entrance wound. Her arm was deformed and it was clear that the bullet struck the bone, shattering it.
Around the wound was a series of small cuts. The back of Reeva's arm presented an entirely different picture, revealing a gaping wound.

‘There is extrusion of tissue from the wound. The wound edges are irregular in areas and partially serrated and torn,' said Saayman.

Measurement tabs were placed around the wound as photos were taken.

‘The overall appearance of these two wounds is consistent with that of exit gunshots injury probably caused by a projectile or portions thereof, together with possible secondary projectile injury including possibly bone fragments.'

The professor was writing as he was speaking.

‘Are you satisfied, Dr Perumal?' asked Saayman.

The hired expert said he was.

The outside of Reeva's forearm revealed many small cuts scattered over a relatively large area. ‘The appearance is not inconsistent with multiple superficial secondary projectile or shrapnel injuries.'

Saayman believed the wounds to be caused by wooden splinters, which he would describe as secondary projectiles in his report.

Saayman also documented the abrasion under Reeva's right breast, towards her midline. Considering the bone and tissue fragments on Reeva's black top, the professor concluded that the wound was caused by the same bullet, which passed through her elbow and, having lost a lot of its momentum, was incapable of penetrating her chest. Smaller abrasions in the area were probably caused by bone from the arm picked up as secondary projectiles.

On Reeva's right hip was another small hole, akin to an entry wound, which was surrounded by significant discoloration and bruising. The wound lined up with the hole through the elastic of the grey casual shorts that accompanied the body.

The hip, head and arm wounds were all located on the right side of Reeva's body. Saayman walked around the gurney to the other side to inspect damage to the soft flesh between the index and middle finger of Reeva's left hand. While Saayman believed the injury was caused by a projectile travelling from the top of the hand towards the palm, the nature of the folds and skin creases on a human's hand make such determination difficult.

Reeva was then rolled on to her stomach. Two small bruises were immediately visible in the middle of her back. ‘There is no perforation of the skin and the abrasions appear to overlie the bony prominences of the subjacent thoracic vertebrae,' said the professor.

The wounds were typical of blunt trauma, caused by banging oneself against the corner of a chair, or being hit by a projectile that had already spent much of
its energy. The only blunt object in the cubicle with Reeva when she was shot that fitted this description was the small wooden magazine rack. This suggestion would be an issue of contention between the state and defence, with the latter arguing that it was indeed the furniture that caused these marks.

With the deceased now on her stomach, a bruise on her right inner buttock was visible. An official assisting with the postmortem, wearing gloves, pushed the skin around the area, manoeuvring to establish whether a bullet could be felt under the skin. Nothing was found. But the pathologist knew what he was looking at. The bruises were adjacent to the hip wound on Reeva's front. Had the bullet perhaps disintegrated on impact?

While Reeva's face appeared intact, her right eye was blue and swollen, as if it had been hit with a blunt object. It was clear that this was the result of internal damage caused by the gunshot wound – in other words, not the result of direct trauma to the eye, but rather internal damage caused by the shot to the head.

A study of Reeva's entire body revealed a number of other small bruises and scratches: a reddish discoloration of Reeva's right nipple, a bruise on the upper part of her thigh, bruises on her shin and a small scratch on her right thumb. Saayman would suggest they were of no significance to the injuries that led to death, or that they had been caused some time prior to Reeva's death.