is dateline. i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline." is struggling a lot with what has happened. >> before i knew it, i four shots at the door. >> he is struggling a lot with

what has happened. he has to live with the weight of it. >> i set over and i cried. >> an in-depth look at the story that stunned the world. murder and the blade runner. >> olympic runner, oscar pistorius, is charged with the murder of his girlfriend. >> you realize she is not coming back and it hits you. >> you can't deny that reeva was killed by himself, at his house. >> what everybody will be watching for is whether he can prove he intended to kill? >> i did not kill reeva. >> you want to believe him, you really, really, really want to believe him. hello, and welcome to "dateline." reeva and oscar pistorius were

a dazzling couple . she was a brilliant model, he was an athlete famous for defying the odds. their futures glowed with promise, then, reeva was gunned down. as police investigated, a chilling question transfixed the world, was her death an accident, or it was south africa's national hero a murderer? >> here is keith morrison with the rise and fall of oscar pistorius. such a time it was, like a different world looking back at this now. this was london. the year was 2012, and olympic history was about to be made. the moment was electrifying. in 45.44 seconds, a south african double amputee running on carbon fiber legs was transformed from global nobody,

to international superstar, with a superhero nickname, the blade runner. he was oscar pistorius . >> he was just this amazing, amazing icon.>> and in south africa, he was adored. not just as a remarkable athlete, but as a man of apparently flawless character, modest, good manners, and a man of little words. resistant. i meant was almost wealthy, and certainly a list for a glorious eight months. and then, [ sound of gunfire ] four bullets at close range through a closed door. a woman was dead, and the mist of the blade runner was blown away.

it was number 3:20 a.m. on february 14th, 2013, valentine's day. when police arrived at oscar's house, he told them a harrowing story. >> oscar pistorius, according to him, has suffered death threats, has been a victim of serious and violent crimes. >> the dark side of fame, he says, which is why he always kept a distal handy. karen covered the story for south africa's 24 hour news channel. >> he worked around with a nine millimeter gun with him all the time. >> that night, oscar was in his room, the gun at his bedside table when he suddenly is startled awake. he grabbed his gun, he said, got out of bed, without putting on his prosthetic legs, and went looking for the source of the noise. >> walked over to the bathroom,

screams at this person he believes to be an intruder, get out of my house, get out of my house, and opens fire. >> right through the bathroom door. >> and then, he told the police he went back in the bed, sleeping with his new girlfriend, 29-year-old model and aspiring attorney named reeva steenkamp. that is when oscar said , he made a horrible discovery, reeva was not in bed . >> and it immediately dawns on him that she could be the person in the bathroom. he puts on his prosthetic limbs and tries to break down the door. he then picks up a cricket bat, which he also keeps in his room for protection against burglars or intruders, or whatever, bashes down the door with a cricket bat. >> inside, he says, he found reeva bleeding. >> she is slumped over, but she is still alive. he picks her up in his arms, carried her downstairs and she still breathing.

>> she'd been struck by three bullets and by the time the police arrived, she was dead. oscar sobbed as he told the story. >> he did not mean to kill her. it was a horrible accident. and to quote his words, he is mortified to have taken the life of the person so loved by some of the people. >> detectives collected evidence, the bullet riddled door, the cricket bat, they found security camera video showing reeva arriving at oscar's gated subdivision at 6:00 p.m., followed 10 minutes later by oscar. on the coffee table, they found a valentine's day gift and card from reeva to ozzie, as she liked to call him. it was all such a terrible, tragic mistake, says oscar. but, too little details did not seem right. they found reeva's cell phone in the bathroom. why would she take that in there in the middle of the

night, and more importantly, why was reeva dressed as if preparing to leave when she was shot? an accident, oh no, said detectives. this was no accident. >> double amputee olympic runner oscar pistorius was charged overnight with the valentine's day murder of his girlfriend . >> it was like an explosion, a huge nationwide shock. oscar pistorius charged with murder , how is it possible? a true hero, their international star in court like a common criminal, pleading to be released on bail. >> he walked into the dock and he was shaking. his entire body was shaking. he was overcome, sobbing, struggling to breathe. it did seem to be, because it was over three days, i don't think it would be physically possible for a human being to fake that over that length of time. >> was he telling the truth? was reeva steenkamp the victim

of a terrible accident, and he of a miscarriage of justice ? millions hoped so, because if oscar was lying, there olympic hero must have been hiding a very dark side, indeed. coming up, the oscar pistorius that the public did not see. >> oscar walked up to him and just started screaming, off with him. >> fights, threats, and the fast crowd when "dateline" continues. continues. discover caplyta. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar i & ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. caplyta can cause serious side effects. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. anti-depressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke.

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keith morrison: it was like grief, in a way, first, shock, then here in south africa, denial, it was like grief in a way. first, shock, and here in south africa, denial as they are blade runner set at the dock, charged with murder. reeva steenkamp, a young woman just beginning to make a name for herself for fighting for domestic reviews-- abuse had been killed by her girlfriend-- boyfriend. all were trying to hang on to the fact that her death was a nightmarish accident, nothing more. >> this was a very conflicting narrative, because you want to believe him. you really, really, really want to believe him. >> it was a common desire. he must have thought he was firing at a burglar. >> the support has been overwhelming from all across the world. >> pete, oscar's manager, spoke

to us two weeks after the shooting. >> it's support for him having lost someone really dear and close to him. >> then, then the questions, could they believe it, really? who was he, anyway? nbc's mary carillo was there with him when you beyond south africa even knew his name. >> is my face turning green? lol next >> he was happy, apparently all the time. >> you never have terrible days? >> not really. >> oscar was born without key bones in his feet and lower legs . his parents could have opted for years of reconstructive surgery, but instead decided to have oscar's lower legs amputated when he was 11 months old. it was a good decision in

the end, says, oscar. >> i believe i've said some things in my life have changed, my personality come in a positive way, due to having a disability. >> as nbc cameras followed oscar around south africa in the weeks leading up to the 2012 olympics, he seemed grounded, humbled. he'd joined charities. this one dedicated to helping landmine victims. >> i've been very lucky to be involved in two projects in mozambique in the past where we have been able to get funding to make them prosthetic legs. >> i really had exalted this guy. i really thought that he was a game changer. >> "new york times" reporter michael scovel of spent a few weeks with oscar back then and he too was impressed. >> in oscar's home, there is almost an entire shelf of mandela biographies. oscar

reads them. he's a smart guy. he is a literate person. >> just before those triumphant olympics, scovel witnessed a disturbance in oscar's life, he broke up with his longtime girlfriend, samantha taylor. here is a selfie of the two of them during happier times. olympics came first, he told samantha. >> he was too focused, too intent on this goal, and he did not feel it was something he could routinely break it off with her. >> after the olympics, oscar flew to the seychelles to film an episode of the south african so-called "top building." his accomplice on the show was samantha taylor, his old girlfriend, the one he broke up with before the olympics. certainly looks here as if oscar had patched things up

with her now. >> it makes my life easier, spending time with someone-- you're very caring. >> your both blushing. [ laughter ] >> at home, of course, oscar was an item wherever he went. when he ordered a brand-new mclaren sports car, it was noticed, like everything he did was noticed. oscar clearly enjoyed the attention and began to spend more time with new friends. the solid coaches who raised him taught him humility, gave way to piles like billionaire financier clifton vandeberg, seen here on his reality tv show, "clifton shores" and there was nightclub owner and former ex-convict, kenny. >> i was a gangster! if you are out of it, it is easy to say that. >> kenny loved oscar, loved showing him off to a new cast of characters, not all of them home necessarily had oscar's best interest at heart. >> is that world at all

dangerous for a newbie to become involved in? are there sharks out there? >> yes, everywhere there are sharks. >> many, he said, behind the wheels of fast and fancy cars. >> there's lamborghinis, porsches, there is mclarens, rose versus, trying to make very flashy. >> oscar loved speed of all kinds, fast people, fast cars. here at the local formula one race track, he met a fast crowd too. they'd rent the whole place for their private parties and races in the clubhouse. here, oscar met the kind of people he would have never met had he not been oscar pistorius . here, he met the people who pulled a thread from the carefully woven fabric of his life. in particular, his new friend, quinton brandenburg. oscar allegedly accused quinton of having an affair with samantha taylor, during the

olympics that is, after oscar first broke it off with samantha. >> oscar walton, just started swearing at him, going, off with him. i'm running for my country. >> d.c. south african soccer star, mark batchelor. he told us quinton ever denied dating samantha taylor and he was so upset by oscar's outburst, he asked bachelor to speak with him. >> he was shaken up. oscar, what's going on? >> but, said, bachelor, when he phoned oscar-- >> what's the problem, you got a problem with me, i'm not scared of you. i said, you are out of your league. he said, >> i will break your [ bleep ] legs. i do not think anything of it. >> batchelor, by the way, had a checkered past himself, so he said, he knew the signs of a

man losing his balance, hanging out with the wrong people . >> i know the crowd they were with and oscar got sucked in there. i was thinking, it became too much too quickly for him. >> there was a final breakup with samantha. friends say, she complained oscar was not pleasant at all. samantha's mother says she was afraid for her daughter's safety, but the public knew none of that. as far as his fans were concerned, oscar was on top of the world. so, when oscar pistorius walked the red carpet in november 2012 at the national sports awards show with this woman on his arm, the entire country wanted to know, who is she? coming up. >> reeva had a brilliant mind. she was smart, funny, all of those things, but she was brilliant. >> oscar and reeva's new romance into an old lane. authorities wonder could jealousy be a motive in this shooting, when "dateline" continues. line"

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keith morrison: in police reports of the shooting, she is described as the victim. in police reports of the shooting, she is described as the victim. but according to her friends, that is altogether the wrong word to describe reeva steenkamp. reeva's brief journey to her tragic end began with a last- minute phone call to the most sought after celebrity in south africa. >> hi, i am oscar pistorius,

and he needed a date at the last minute , so if you could just throw your stuff together and come and be my date. >> reeva was 29 when she lit up the red carpet at the south africa sports awards ceremony in november 2012. reeva had looks, no question there. according to her friends, that might have been the least of her attributes. >> reeva had a brilliant mind here she was smart, funny, and all of those things, but she was brilliant. >> gina myers was reeva's roommate, which may be understating their relationship. reeva actually lived with her and her parents. hoping to save money. also being far from home, she missed her family and it was comforting to be a part of somebody else's . >> she often told me how grateful she was for her upbringing. her family was very down to earth, the salt of the earth. they were very humble, and we were exactly, the exactly the same. >> reeva grew up on the small

farm, tough enough to come back from the serious fall of a horse, she broke her back, spent eight months in the hospital and have to learn to walk all over again. she attended a devout and diverse catholic school, saint dominic's, where students are taught to be of service to the poor. by the time she entered the prelaw program at nelson mandela metropolitan university, reeva was primed to make a difference to be a part of the new south africa. but then, a relationship with a man, her first serious boyfriend, turned abusive, frightening, destroyed her self- confidence. >> she had spoken about having a previously abusive relationship. >> after a graduation to break free, riva-- reeva moved to the big city, johannesburg. lauren me hoover met reeva soon after she arrived in town and the two fell in love.

>> how long did you go out together? >> four and half years. >> during which, reeva became determined to do something about the kind of domestic violence she expressed at the hands of that first boyfriend. warren encouraged her. shared her outlook and sensibilities. in one of life's weird twist, mark batchelor new reeva back then too . before then, reeva wanted to live out a fantasy. she had dabbled in modeling as a teenager and decided to give it another try before going on to law school. >> she was looking for what was going to take her places. >> reeva's career took off. she appeared in ads, commercials, videos, like this one from the men's magazine, " fhm." >> did she get a big head?

>> no. >> she wanted for the first time in her life to be on her own. >> i was very busy, she was very busy. sometimes, you need a break. >> by then, reeva was speaking out publicly about domestic violence . she only knew oscar the way everybody knew oscar, as the electrifying blade runner in the olympic games. and then, pure coincidence, really, four months later the car dealer from whom oscar ordered that mclaren showed him a picture of reeva, suggested he might want to take her to the sports awards . it was like they were made for each other, both disciplined, hard-working, well read, hoping to put their fame to use for the betterment of others, oscar for landmine victims, and reeva, for victims of domestic violence. >> did you ever meet oscar? >> i did, yes. he seemed like a gentleman. >> and like a gentleman, warren

graciously accepted his role of reeva's x and would occasionally meet her at a cafe to talk about old times. one of those passing encounters would forever be replayed in warren's mind. >> what did she tell you she was up to? >> she seemed like she was happy. >> perfectly innocent, says warren. but did oscar think so? mark batchelor had seen, he said, how jealous oscar could be about his former girlfriend, samantha. he told us reeva's friends believed oscar now felt the same way about her. >> there was talk about jealousy. she was protecting her ex, warren. >> was oscar jealous of warren, we don't know. but we do know this, that little coffee date warren had with reeva was on february 12, 2013, 36 hours before oscar

killed her. coming up, prosecutors lay out the case. iphones, bulletholes, reeva's close, neighbors' stories. >> what everyone will be watching for his mother you can prove he intended to kill her. >> we would not have charged him if we did not believe so. >> when "dateline" continues. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis.

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the supreme court reversing a ban on bump stocks used to make semiautomatic guns fire more rapidly. in a 6-3 really, the conservative majority said, the deadly weapon used in the nation's worst mass shootings does not technically meet the definition of a band machine gun. make the supreme court set to release another decision on whether domestic abusers can use guns, that involving the january 6th prosecution and trump immunity are expected to be released before the month end

. for now, back to "dateline." reeva steenkamp and oscar pistorius welcome back to "dateline reeva steenkamp and oscar pistorius were an a list item, but just months into the relationship, rumors of oscar's jealousy were causing a stir. then, on valentine's day, the romance ended in a blast of gunfire. now, the man who pulled the trigger was headed to court with the world watching. here is keith morrison with " the rise and fall of oscar pistorius. " four shots through a door, no question oscar pistorius fired them, and that he killed reeva steenkamp, but was it murder? police and prosecutors thought it was from the very first night . as the trial began, everyone was wondering how the state was going to prove the killing of

reeva was premeditated, that oscar actually meant to kill her remarks >> i think the state has put a huge amount of work, and a huge amount of money and a huge amount of effort into making their case. >> the case, that the prosecution argued was just as simple as it looks on day one. >> he can't deny that reeva was killed by himself , at his house, and that four shots were fired at her. >> attorney worked for south africa's national prosecuting authority. he previewed, cautiously, the prosecution's case against oscar. >> what everybody will be watching for is whether or not you can prove he intended to kill her? and you sound like you are confident the prosecution is enough to be able to prove that? >> he knew that reeva was in the bathroom and he intended to kill her. >> reeva was dressed when she was shot, as if she intended to leave here at she had taken her

cell phone with her when she locked herself in the bathroom said a spokesperson for south africa's prosecution authority. >> we believe that reeva was probably running away, and she locked herself in the bathroom . >> but as the prosecution's theory about, the fact that she was wearing white shorts and a black top? >> it cannot be explained, as of now. i try to take up the stand and say, she decided to put on close to go to the bathroom or decided, i'm going to sleep in close, not put my night is on. >> hipsters told investigators months before the shooting, oscar had recklessly fired his pistol twice before, once through the sunroof of his car, while driving, another while having lunch at this crowded market cafe. >> he accidentally shoots it and ask his friend to take the fall for him saying, i am a

well-known person, the media will be all over this. help me out. the state is arguing that he has never taken responsibility for anything, ever. everyone keeps making excuses for him, and now a woman is dead . >> weirdly, this happened in the very same restaurant where reeva met with her ex-boyfriend , warren, a day and a half before oscar shot her to death. in addition to murder, prosecutors added those firearm charges. nickel and dime stuff, you might say, but prosecutors had their reasons. >> what there seems to be is a part of a strategy to present oscar pistorius as a trigger- happy cowboy who reaches for firearm in moments of stress. >> like the time when four months before reeva's shooting, oscar tweeted about going in full combat recon mode when he heard a noise in the laundry room. it is interesting on that

account, what oscar did not do, he did not fire four shots through the door. so, what about the time he actually did fire his pistol? during that awful night he took reeva's life . we made a replica of oscar's bathroom door, thick, solid wood. on a target range, we fired the same nine millimeters round from the same type of pistol oscar used, bullets ripped right through the door as if it was nothing more. we also learned, there something unique about this nine millimeter, it is not only powerful, but exceptionally loud . so much so, it is impossible to convey without blowing out your speakers, 160 decibels, louder than a jet engine at takeoff, makes your ears ring. according to prosecution spokesman, many of oscar's neighbors heard those gunshots, and something possibly more damning, screams.

>> it is not just, by the way, the screams, it is whether did people actually hear arguments prior to that? did you hear a woman shouting, sounding irritated, annoyed, and then screaming, shouting? >> the prosecution named more than a dozen neighbors as potential witnesses. five of them, according to the pretrial report, said, they heard arguments and shots, followed by the screams of a woman, and then further shots. >> and people said we heard gunshots, screens, gunshots, screams, it's going to be pretty much hard for you to argue that you still not note that the person screaming is your girlfriend. >> how would oscar ever be able to explain that away in court? >> coming up, a shiny olympic hero hiding a secret terror. >> this is a person who was living essentially in a state of fear. >> you have got to buy oscar's

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♪ you're the one that i want ♪ keith morrison: oscar pistorius's story about shooting reeva never changed, never wavered. oscar pistorius's story about shooting reeva never changed, never wavered. over and over again, he said, he thought he was acting in self- defense when he fired through his bathroom door at what he believed was an intruder. a story that resonated in south

africa, where home invasion robberies are common and the murder rate, more than seven times greater than in the u.s. >> every month knows about gated communities, of course. this one is called a security village. in there somewhere is oscar's house. behind the high wall and the 2020 volt wire that is strung up across the top, which would give you a heck of a shock if you touched it. but on this side of the wall, in case you are an intruder thinking of coming inside, is a place called the farm in, a animal place. and you would have to run into a cheetah or a lien if you are an intruder. >> in south africa, there is no safe place. if criminals target you and wants you in your house, they will get you in your house. >> oscar's acquaintance kenny is both a man of wealth and a robbery victim. >> you kind of buy oscar's story then, he thought there was an intruder in the bathroom? >> yes. >> makes sense to you.

>> makes so much sense. >> oscar's attorney could argue that oscar had been fearful his entire life, and for good reason . >> i think there is an awareness from his defense team that they cannot present oscar pistorius as this perfect human being who was so idolized by so many people . there has to be an acknowledgment, a real acknowledgment of the kind of issues he has had that have always remained under the surface. >> in fact, karen said, she learned oscar planned to ask the court to hold him to a different standard of justice. >> that he can't be judged according to the standards of the reasonable man. >> south africa's self defense loss is based on how a reasonable man would act to an attack. his defense team would protract them as something other than that. >> you need to take into account that this is a person who has persistently said, that

he has felt the most vulnerable on his steps and was living as if he was in a state of fear, a state of terror. and you need to judge about it standard. >> oscar pistorius fought for years to get into the olympics, to be treated like everybody else there but now, he was expected to make the opposite argument in court. while working on his "new york times sunday magazine" cover story said he observed that in private, oscar was often afraid. he seemed to have a great deal of fear, reasonable or not, of people >> in private, oscar was often afraid. >> he seemed to have a great deal of fear, reasonable or not, of people breaking into his house. one year i was with him, we came back to the house and he said, by the way, there was a noise in my house last night, and i thought it was an intruder and i came downstairs

with my gun. >> armed and afraid, a dangerous combination. the accounts oscar gave the night he shot reeva steenkamp seemed very telling, that his portrayal of himself was a far cry from the heroic blade runner. i heard a noise in the bathroom, i felt a sense of terror rushing over me. i believed that someone had entered my house. i was too scared to switch the light on. i grabbed my nine millimeter pistol from underneath the bed and i fired shots at the toilet door and shouted for reeva to phone the police. i was too scared to switch on the light. >> too scared to switch on a light, but not too scared to pull the trigger on a pistol. as this footage reveals, oscar was very comfortable with a gun in his hands and new the damage it could do. which oscar pistorius would the judge see? coming up . >> her shouts and screams were

petrifying. >> it was clear this person's life was in danger. >> neighbors tell their story, and oscar tells his. >> she was not breathing. [ crying ] >> when "dateline" continues. e . but hey...nothing wrong with sticking it to the boss. ooooh, flo, you gonna take that? why would that concern me? because you're...the... aren't you the..? huh...we never actually discussed hierarchy. ok, why don't we just stick to letting dave know how much he can save when he bundles his home or auto with his boat or rv. wait, i thought jamie was the boss. [ laughter ] it's funny because i'm not boss material! and i smoked while i was pregnant. this is the view i had of my baby in the nicu. my tip is: speak into the opening so your baby can hear you better. (announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now. i'll be honest. by the end of the day, my floors...yeesh. but who has the time to clean?

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we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for. welcome back. more than a year had passed since oscar pistorius fired welcome back. more than a year had passed since oscar pistorius's fired four bullets through a bathroom

door, killing reeva steenkamp. now, the beloved olympic athlete was about to have his day in court and the world would be watching . the scene promised to be a spectacle, but one with very real consequences. here is keith morrison with the conclusion of "the rise and fall of oscar pistorius. " the trial of oscar pistorius in the spring of 2014 was an international event , streamed live to the world. >> do you understand the charges , mr. pistorius? >> i do, i do my lady. >> how do you plead ? >> not guilty, my lady. >> it was also dramatic. there were the neighbors who testified off-camera, they heard the gunshots went reeva was killed, but not just gunshots, they heard reeva, terrified. >> her shots, her screams were petrifying. i knew something terrible was happening in that house. >> the neighbors husband gave an

identifying account. >> it was clear that this person's life was in danger. that is when the first shots were fired. >> oscar's next-door neighbor testified, she heard a loud argument more than an hour before the shooting. >> i heard what sounded like somebody was working a fight and loud voices, my lady. it was around 3:00 in the morning. i heard four gunshots. >> which went through the door behind which reeva was cowering , said prosecutors. he brought the door to court, bulletholes and all. and the state's ballistics expert explained how shot by shot, through that door, oscar took reeva's life. >> she was in a standing

position between the door and the toilet seat. >> that shot shattered reeva's hip. she fell back onto a magazine stand, put her hands up in a futile attempt to protect herself as a second round passed through her upper right arm. the third shot missed, but the fourth one struck reeva in the head. >> if you look at her defensive position, like she's in this position, a wound on her left hand, just between the two fingers, and she was a bit facing down, it comes in. it was a penetrator, right in the deceased. >> oscar's response to the testimony, plugging his ears, covering his head, and vomiting into a trashcan. prosecutors made the case that oscar was a man governed by his emotions, not just grief and guilt, as seen in court, but

also jealousy and rage. to make that case, the state submitted a stream of text messages, sent three weeks before the shooting. reeva to oscar, i was not flirting with anyone today. i'm scared of you sometimes and how you snapped at me. oscar responded, i was upset that you'd just left me after we got food to go and talk to a guy and i was watching you touch his arm, ignoring me. >> then, with six days to live here was reeva again to oscar . i can't be attacked by outsiders for dating you and be attacked by you, the one person i deserve protection from. but oscar's lawyers said, the text were nothing more than lovers spat. so, what really happened that night? well, only one person survived, and he, oscar pistorius himself, took the stand off-camera to tell

the world his version. >> i heard the window open in the bathroom. i thought that there was a burglar that had gained entrance into my home. the first thing that went through my mind is i needed to arm myself that i needed to protect reeva and i and i needed to get my gun. i heard the noise from inside the toilet. i perceived to be somebody coming out of the toilet, before i knew it, i have fired four shots at the door. my ears were ringing after, so i kept one shouting for reeva to phone the police. and i unlocked the door, and i flung the door open, and i set over reeva and i cried . she wasn't breathing. [ crying ] >> south africa does not have a jury system, so oscar's testimony was for an audience of one, the judge would

determine oscar's guilt or innocence. and five months later, when judgment day finally arrived-- >> mr. pistorius, please stand up . >> the judge made it clear, she believed oscar. >> shooting the disease dead was a genuine mistake, as you thought you were shooting at an intruder behind the toilet door. the accused is found not guilty , and is discharged. >> not guilty of murder, but the judge did find oscar guilty of a lesser charge, culpable homicide, in u.s. terms, manslaughter. reeva's parents were devastated . >> i wanted the truth. i don't think we got the truth. that's the whole point, we did not get the truth. that is not what i believe or barry believes happened. that is not justice.

that's not justice. >> for them, the news only got worse. the sentence was much more lenient than expected, five years. and then, just a year into the sentence, this happened. >> is late news tonight from south africa, nbc news has learned one time olympic hero oscar pistorius has been released from prison. >> oscar was allowed to move into his uncle's compound to serve out the rest of his sentence. it was a strange ending to a strange story, except, that wasn't the end of the story. in south africa, the rules are a little different. prosecutors can appeal verdicts, which they did. after the trial, after oscar was sent home, a higher court upgraded his conviction. >> the accused conviction and sentence on count one are set aside and replaced with the following guilty of murder. >> then, later, the court

increased oscar's sentence too to 13 years and 5 months, so back he went to prison. but that wasn't the final chapter, either. >> we are following breaking news overnight in a case we've followed for more than a decade. >> in january 2024, nearly 11 years after murdering reeva steenkamp, oscar pistorius was released on parole, as required under south african law . he had served more than half his sentence behind bars. he would serve the remainder of his time at his uncle's compound in pretoria, under strict supervision. the release came four months after the death of reeva's father, barry, who spent years working to keep his daughter's killer behind bars. in a statement, reeva's mother, joan, said, there can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back. we will remain behind, the ones serving the life sentence.

there is a postscript to this story and it has to do with mark batchelor, that one-time soccer legend. >> what is that like to have a huge crowd of 100,000 people cheering your name? >> sometimes they-- >> on the evening of july 14th, 2019, as he sat in front of his car in front of the home we had met him at, two gunmen unknown fired into his car. >> police are investigating a case of murder. >>'s murder was national news. south africa broadcasting company was all over it. the targeted hit, police called it. there were rumors that batchelor had gotten mixed up with a fast crowd out to settle an old score, which got us to thinking about the time this sports god told us how, like oscar, he struggled to stay grounded as his own fame and money sword. >> just getting too fake, too

much about who is got more money, wescott cars, and who can do this and who can do that. >> there is an internal truth to an ancient myth about flying too close to the sun, whether once celebrated footballer, or shining star of the london olympics, who flew on his flashing blades and felt so fast, but so far. that's all for this edition of "dateline," i'm craig melvin, thanks for watching. watching. happy weekend. >> good morning and welcome to the saturday edition of morning joe weekend. let's get to the conversations you may have missed. >> these are good ones