Henke Pistorius has spoken out in defence of his son Oscar, the Paralympian convicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, describing him as "a quality, quality man" with "his life ahead of him."
The 72-year-old father shared his views in an interview, speaking with quiet conviction about the values he attempted to instil in his son.
"In raising Oscar, the qualities that I tried to instill in him were all learned successfully," he told IOL.
Henke dismissed public criticism, stating he pays little attention to outside opinions about his family.
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"What people think is something that's out of my hands, and if they can think whatever they want to think without the facts," he said.
Steenkamp, a model and law graduate, was killed in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013 at Oscar Pistorius's home in Pretoria.
The athlete discharged four rounds through a locked bathroom door, fatally striking the 29-year-old inside.
Oscar Pistorius received 13 years and five months for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp | GETTYHe subsequently maintained that he had mistaken her for an intruder who had entered the property.
Following protracted legal proceedings and multiple appeals, Pistorius received a murder conviction and was handed a sentence of 13 years and five months in prison.
The former sprinter was released on parole in January 2024, having completed more than half of his term behind bars. He has since been living under strict parole conditions ever since.
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|GETTY
Henke also disclosed a previously unknown encounter with Reeva's late father, Barry Steenkamp, which took place during the court proceedings.
The two men crossed paths briefly in a courthouse bathroom, a moment Henke described as awkward and uncomfortable.
"I once spoke to Mr. Steenkamp while we were at the court. We have never met afterwards, and of course he died," he recalled.
"I just met him at the toilets, and I said to him, we should discuss this tragedy, but it never happened."
The hoped-for dialogue between the two fathers, bound together by the same devastating events yet divided by circumstances that proved impossible to overcome, never took place.
Despite the weight of the past, Henke has turned his attention to faith and a major new venture on the African continent.
Oscar Pistorius was once the biggest name of Paralympic sport
| GETTY"My faith is something that is an integral part of everything that I do in life," he explained.
The 72-year-old is now channelling his efforts into an ambitious moringa cultivation project, which he describes as the largest of its kind in Africa.
"The product that we're talking about is moringa. And the mission is to plant 44 million trees and intercrop other plants, which will be planted as well, and complement the attributes of moringa in health and in carbon sequestration," he said.
The endeavour, he added, will occupy him for the coming decade.