Eastern Cape - The grieving parents of slain model Reeva Steenkamp have rubbished claims that their daughter was pregnant.
Reports emerged on Wednesday that the pretty model shot dead by her lover Oscar Pistorius was expecting a child at the time of her death.
Reeva was shot four times in Pistorius’ home on Valentine’s Day.
The star athlete is currently out on R1 million bail after appearing in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court last week.
On Wednesday night, Reeva’s family responded to claims published by the UK’s Daily Mail and the US National Enquirer that the Steenkamp family had lost both a daughter and grandchild.
Family spokesman Mike Steenkamp told the UK tabloid that the cover girl’s mother June would have known if her daughter was pregnant.
“The post-mortem would have revealed if Reeva was pregnant and it did not reveal anything like this,” Mike told the tabloid.
“Maybe it comes from the other side, to garner and build up some sort of support for Oscar.”
Pistorius’ legal team were also quick to shoot down the claims.
“Oscar’s legal team confirmed that their expert pathologist, Dr Reggie Perumal, denied that Reeva was pregnant,” Pistorius’s spokeswoman Lunice Johnston tells the Daily Voice.
“If she was pregnant it would have been mentioned during the bail hearing.”
During the four-day hearing, the court heard testimony from the former investigating officer Hilton Botha and the State.
They highlighted details about Reeva’s gunshot wounds, injuries and even the state of her bladder.
But no information was heard by Magistrate Desmond Nair relating to whether Reeva was pregnant.
The news comes just 24 hours after Pistorius called for a special memorial for Reeva at the home of his uncle where he is now staying.
He invited family and close friends to “share his loss” in a private vigil for the woman he had been dating for a few months.
Meanwhile, an Afrikaans newspaper has reported that the Steenkamp family have been left financially strained by Reeva’s death.
Beeld reports that Reeva’s father, Barry Steenkamp, was a former jockey and racehorse trainer who had since fallen on harder times.
Steenkamp reportedly said he now did “little things”, none of which “made a fortune”.
His wife previously worked on the farm that the Steenkamps used to rent and had a riding school.
But June was now doing catering.
And that it was the successful model who would give them the financial support they needed.
The report stated that the heartbroken family did not know where their next rent cheque would come from.
Daily Voice