'We're behind Oscar, no matter what'

Carl Pistorius and his sister Aimee arrive at the High Court in Pretoria. File picture: Kevin Sutherland

Carl Pistorius and his sister Aimee arrive at the High Court in Pretoria. File picture: Kevin Sutherland

Published Oct 21, 2014

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Johannesburg - Convicted killer Oscar Pistorius’s siblings are standing four-square behind the Paralympian no matter what Judge Thokozile Masipa decides on Tuesday.

Speaking out for the first time since their brother gunned down his law graduate model girlfriend on Valentine’s Day last year, Aimee and Carl Pistorius rallied behind Oscar on Monday, saying they believed in his innocence, supported him and would stand behind him no matter what the decision was on Tuesday.

The siblings said in an interview aired on Tuesday by Britain’s ITV News that they believed his version of events “without reservation”.

Pistorius’s sister Aimee said:“I do not doubt my brother at all. I have the privileged position of knowing my brother - his strengths, his faults as you do when you’re as close as we are. And yet knowing those things, I know that people who think maliciously are so far from the truth.”

Her eldest brother Carl concurred.

“I believe Oscar without a reservation. There’s not an inkling of reservation as to what I believe Oscar says.”

The siblings would not speculate on what Judge Masipa’s final decision would be, saying they would “take things as they come”.

Carl said: “What I do know for certain, regardless of the outcome, is that the three of us will stand together and continue to stand together.”

Aimee said she knew from the start, even before details of how her brother got to shoot his girlfriend were made public, that he could not have intentionally gunned down his girlfriend.

“My first thoughts were that knowing my brother, who he is… as well as his fears, he must have thought it was an intruder, before I knew the facts,” she said.

Her initial reaction to the news was “shock, devastation and extreme heartache”.

She described the past 18 months as having been “particularly difficult”.

Aimee said: “It has been a particularly difficult time to see a sibling go through the emotions that he had, and to try and be there and support someone through the guilt, grief - the overwhelmingness that comes with all of that.”

The trigger-happy, self-centred aggressive person portrayed by the prosecution was not the brother they knew and adored.

“The brother I know is a kind person, generous, sometimes to a fault, where people take advantage of and he’s got a good heart. He’s thoughtful, loving, has a great desire to help people less fortunate than himself and just a real sincerity about him that few people would be able to live up to, coupled with his dedication and his real determination to do things better, to be better, not only in the sporting arena, but of himself as well,” said Aimee.

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The Star

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