Bloemfontein - For June Steenkamp, the reasons she will be attending the State's appeal to overturn Oscar Pistorius's culpable homicide conviction is not for any form of catharsis.
In an interview with Sky News, Reeva Steenkamp's mother insisted that all she wanted was to support State advocate Gerrie Nel - the man who has spent years fighting on her daughter's behalf.
Reeva Steenkamp was killed on Valentine's Day 2013 after Pistorius allegedly mistook her for an intruder and fired four bullets into the toilet cubicle of his Pretoria East home.
On Tuesday, Nel and Pistorius's defence team, led by advocate Barry Roux, will do battle at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein where the State will argue that the culpable homicide conviction be overturned and converted to a murder charge.
Pistorius was released on October 19 - just one year into his five-year jail term - to spend the remainder of his sentence on correctional supervision at his uncle's mansion in Pretoria.
However, if the State is successful in its appeal on Tuesday, Pistorius could face 15 years for murder.
But while June will be in attendance at proceedings on Tuesday, she knows that regardless of the outcome, nothing will bring back her daughter.
For the grieving mother, nothing will change the fact that Reeva will never be able to get married or have her own children.
June Steenkamp and some family members arrive at the court #OscarPistorius #IOL @IOL pic.twitter.com/2ohVyFrOtO
— MojoIOL (@mojoIOL) November 3, 2015
And while she said she doesn't hate Pistorius for killing her daughter, she thinks that 11 months isn't enough time in prison.
In her usual soft-spoken manner, she said that her daughter's death still had a major impact on her family's life, and that she and her husband, Barry, still oscillated between good days and bad.
On Tuesday morning, Nel and fellow State advocate Andrea Johnson were spotted bringing in large boxes of documents to the Bloemfontein court just after 7am.
About an hour later, Pistorius's defence team also arrived, quietly entering the court as a group of photographers snapped their images.
June had yet to arrive at the court.
While it's understood that none of the Pistorius family will be in attendance on Monday, family spokeswoman Anneliese Burgess is expected to arrive in their stead.
While the media contingent covering Tuesday's proceedings was large, it did not rival the amount of reporters monitoring Pistorius's trial at the Pretoria High Court last year.
Pistorius’s fate now lies in the hands of Judges Lex Mpati, (Judge President) Nonkosi Mhlanthla, Eric Leach, Steven Majiedt and Elizabeth Baartman. Though it could be several weeks before judgment is given.
The heads of argument submitted revealed the State will argue on Tuesday that this is a clear cut case of murder on the doctrine of dolus eventualis.
Nel will argue that Pistorius full well knew that there was someone behind the toilet door at his Pretoria East home, when he fired four shots into the small cubicle, killing Reeva.
The advocate will insist that Pistorius must have foreseen the risk of death in firing those shots, meaning he indirectly intended to kill whoever was behind that door.
The first hurdle, however, for the State to overcome is to convince the appeal court that this is indeed a question of error in law, rather than an error in fact.
Roux will then argue that the State is unable to show that the trial court incorrectly applied the legal principles to the primary and secondary facts and rather seeks to attack the factual findings, which is not permissible.
Roux will argue that at the time Pistorius fired the shots, he honestly believed that Steenkamp was in the bedroom.
The Star
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