Pretoria - Whle a bleak time awaits Oscar Pistorius, he at least still has his fan club behind him - in and out of the courtroom, and also from abroad.
As he left the high court in Pretoria on Monday amid a rush of media cameras and curious onlookers, a group sporting placards shouted “Long live Oscar Pistorius”.
In court, Pistorius managed a slight smile when American citizen Elizabeth McGill called out his name from the public gallery and showed him the thumbs-up sign.
She elicited a slight smile from the man she regards as a hero. Pistorius then waited a few minutes for the proceedings to start, with a bowed head, as if in prayer.
McGill and two companions - Dr Haniki Kasselman and Dr Lynette Prozesky, of Centurion - also went into a huddle shortly before proceedings got under way and prayed for Pistorius.
They were overhead saying: “Lord, may he walk out of this court a free man.”
The three were part of a group called International Support for Oscar Pistorius.
McGill said she flew in from Phoenix, Arizona, to attend the court proceedings. “We are here to support him. He is not a murderer; something simply went terribly wrong that morning (when Reeva Steenkamp was killed).”
She would like to return for the sentencing proceedings in June as she believes Pistorius is innocent. “I would like to see justice being done,” she said.
The Blade Runner, as Pistorius was known in his glory days on the track, received support from across the world, with another group holding up a banner outside the court showing flags from various countries around the globe.
The supporters - all women - came from as far as the UK, Germany and Australia. They all flew in especially to support Pistorius, they said.
Heather Malcherczyk said they had not realised that it would simply be a postponement. “I am not sure whether I will be able to afford flying back in June, as I live in England. But I will try to be here as I dearly want to support him.”
Malcherczyk said she had been following the trial from the start and she always believed in Pistorius's innocence.
She has never met him in person, but said she was not going to introduce herself when he arrived at court. “I would love to speak to him. But I think he has enough on his plate. He just needs to see there are people who believe in him and support him.”
Malcherczyk, speaking on behalf of the group, said: “We believe his murder conviction was a miscarriage of justice. He is a disabled and vulnerable man who acted in fear that morning, believing there was an intruder in his house.
“This is a violent country. It makes no sense that he wanted to kill Reeva. She was a victim, and so is he.”
The group, who call themselves Oscar’s Angels, had placards saying “Oscar was abused and bullied in front of the world” and “Trial by media”.
Pistorius's father Henke and his sister Aimee, who took the front seats in the gallery, also received a lot of support and encouragement from members of the public. Aimee was hugged in court by several people, while Henke had a long conversation outside court with his son’s supporters.
“We are here for you. We pray for your family,” a woman told Pistorius’s father, before they exchanged phone numbers.
Meanwhile, Jackie van Buuren and her grandson Brandon Gagiano cut lonely figures outside the court. Van Buuren tugged on the sleeve of a reporter and asked: “Excuse me, where is the anti-Oscar group? I would like to join them.”
She had travelled from Mbombela to show her dissatisfaction with Pistorius. She was surprised that there was no anti-Oscar group. “If I knew this I would have brought my own people along.
“He is a murderer. He killed an innocent woman. I want to see him go to jail for a long time.” Asked why he was there, her grandson said he wanted to see “Uncle Oscar”.
Pretoria News