One Tragic Night (12 page)

Part of Reeva's stress was attributed to a new international television series,
Strike Back
, for which she had auditioned. She told Gina that as part of the role, she was required to kiss someone and she was concerned about how Oscar would react. Gina says that while Reeva knew the role would fast forward her career, she didn't know how she would tell her boyfriend.

‘On the day that the filming of this series began, she still had not told Oscar. She just told him she was on set. On set, she was told that the part was far more intense and revealing than she had thought. The actor had come in and told her that it was more explicit and there was more nudity than she had been told. She called me and told me that she had refused to do so and was leaving. She left without doing the part. She also told me that she had subsequently told Oscar what had happened. She told me that Oscar had then told her never to be scared to tell him stuff, it was fine, she had left and should come through to Pretoria. She went through to Pretoria that night. The next day, she told me that he was not impressed with the whole thing but that he would get over it.'

One of the casting agents on the series, Steve Jordaan, remembered Reeva being in make-up, ready for the shoot, but walking off set because she was unhappy about the nudity. ‘Reeva was going to play the raunchy little waitress in the opening scene with lead actor Sullivan Stapleton. She used the
Tropika
show as her excuse, saying the nudity wouldn't be good for her image, but talk on set was that she had a fight with Oscar after he found out it was a topless scene,' he said.

The scene involved the actress and Stapleton in a steamy state of undress – and Jordaan cast Nicolene Botha at the last minute. ‘The director was fuming. In the casting video she was specifically told that she was auditioning for a nude scene, and she was okay with that. It was a complete surprise,' said Jordaan.

Gina states that whenever she asked Reeva whether she had told Oscar about her financial problems with her parents, Reeva said she did not want to because she did not want to make him feel as if he needed to give her money. Additionally, she stated that Oscar always made out as if his problems were bigger. ‘She told me that she felt like it always had to be about him.'

On Sunday, 3 February 2013, while she was out for breakfast with a friend, Gina received a call from a distressed Reeva. ‘She was crying and told me that she needed to sit down and talk to me about stuff. She repeated the money problems that she had with her parents and that she needed to help them. I told her to stop putting pressure on herself and to breathe. She was in her car on the way to lunch with Oscar, but she was alone. She repeated that she had a sick, horrible feeling and that we needed to sit down and make plans. I calmed her down.'

Gina was becoming increasingly sceptical about Oscar and his possessive nature, and yet, despite this, Reeva also told her that she was finally ready to tell Oscar that she loved him. On the face of it, the couple did seem more and more in love. In her sworn statement, Gina recounted the events of the last time she saw her best friend alive. It was Tuesday morning, 12 February, and she was sitting on Reeva's bed chatting about the day ahead. Gina elaborated further on their exchange in an interview with us: ‘It was the last time that I saw her and it was just before she got ready for the day. We were sitting on her bed and she had her laptop. She asked if she could show me the pictures she was printing for Oscar for Valentine's Day. It was some pictures of them together and one picture of her alone and one picture of him alone. She turned around to me and showed me the picture of him. And she said, “Gi, does that not look like the face of a murderer?” We laughed because we called him the stalker. She was joking around. She definitely wasn't serious about it.'

Samantha repeatedly returns to that final Tuesday evening she spent lazing on
the carpet with Reeva, ‘faffing' and pondering the future. Reeva, a romantic with a penchant for celebrating special occasions, had big plans for Valentine's Day. So much so that the day before she posted this tweet:

Samantha gives a rare insight into what Reeva had up her own sleeve for her love. ‘She had planned this whole thing, she was so excited. She was like that, she liked special occasions,' Sam remembers. Reeva was plotting an elaborate breakfast picnic in the garden of Oscar's home, replete with heart-shaped biscuits.

‘She had planned to make a whole breakfast. They were going to get up early and they were going to have a picnic in the garden. She would make heart-shaped biscuits and make a picnic. She had gone and got heart-shaped sweets, you know those little sherbet things that say, “I love you,” and stuff all over them. She was planning on making him pancakes with Nutella. She was going to get up early, go and put the blanket out in the garden, put stuff around it at sunrise as a surprise …' Samantha trails off. Reeva had also planned on giving her ‘boo' a framed photograph of them, which she had wrapped.

In an interview she gave to ZAlebs just days before her death, Reeva spoke of how she planned on spending the day spreading love: ‘I've realised that although Valentine's Day can be a cheesy money-making stint to most people, it's a day of expressing love across the world. It doesn't have to only be between lovers, but by telling a friend that you care, or even an old person that they are still appreciated.'

According to the
Mail & Guardian
newspaper, Reeva visited Party Box Goodies, a gift shop in the Hazeldean Square shopping centre up the road from Oscar's house on the afternoon before her death. She apparently told the shop assistant, ‘My boyfriend really loves Valentine's Day' as she purchased wrapping paper for the gift:

Reeva was meant to meet Gina for coffee on the afternoon of Wednesday, 13 February, but because she was already in Pretoria, she decided not to.

‘I finished my job at about two and she said she was going to come through to Joburg, and when I finished I messaged her and she just said, “My Gi, I'm still in Pretoria.” She was so excited and she had planned all these new things and she told me about certain goals that she had and she was
really
excited that day and I even said to her, I said, “You know I'm here to support you for anything and I'm so happy to hear that and I'm so excited for you.”'

At around 6pm, Reeva pulled up to the security access point at the Silver Woods estate, the window rolled down and her elbow resting on the door of her gunmetal-grey Mini Cooper. Her hair was tied up and she was wearing a simple black vest. Reeva smiled broadly as she exchanged a laugh and bantered with a guard at the boom before being waved through into the complex. Some ten minutes later, Oscar's white BMW pulled in to the estate. He had driven through from Johannesburg where he had been visiting Justin at the Daytona Group in Sandton. Samantha recalls the day vividly because she had tried to get Oscar to lure his girlfriend to Johannesburg so that she could go to a movie with her.

‘I'd finished work at about three and I'd said to her I wanted to go to a movie that night. I was going to go to movies on my own. I'd sent her a message at about ten in the morning and she said, “Ja, okay, let me just see how my day goes, I'll message you.” I went past the dealership just to say hi to Just, and Oscar was there. I was standing with him at reception and Justin was going out for dinner with two of his guy friends that night, so I said to him, “You go for dinner with Justin. Phone your girlfriend and tell her to come here to come to movies with me.”

‘Reeva had messaged Oscar earlier in the day indicating she might drive through to Joburg, but wanted to get a few things done at his house in Pretoria. “Baba I hope u don't mind but I came back to the house to work a bit and do some washing. It will help me a lot to get stuff done and relieve some stress. Ill go through to Jhb at like 3 xxx”.

‘So he phoned her while he was standing with me and it was so cute, “Boo Boo, don't you want to come here and bring me a change of clothes and then
I'll go to dinner with Justin and you go to a movie with Sam and then either we can sleep over there or we'll drive back after or something.” I heard her saying, “Hmmm, I'm so tired, I'm already at your house and I don't want to drive from Pretoria now.” She said, “Please just come home and let's snuggle. Just come over and let's like chill and make a veggie burger or something.” That was their night in: veggie burgers. He got off the phone and he said, “Oooh, I better go home!” So I left it. I went to a movie on my own, Justin went to dinner. That was it.

‘The last time I WhatsApped her was at six or seven. I think I sent her a message saying, “Fader.” I think I might have actually taken a photo of the movie house going, “Here's me on my own with my popcorn and my slush and I hope you're enjoying yourself.” She replied, “Oh, I love you, I'm tired, I'll see you tomorrow. Sorry.” Just like she always is …'

Samantha can't help but wonder what would have been had she pushed harder for her friend to join her that night. ‘I often think I wish I had forced her to come because I … I don't know. I don't know what happened that night, and I don't know if, if she had come and then gone back that the same thing would have happened. I can't help but think if I had just changed the series of events, maybe from earlier, then it wouldn't have happened but, ja, you can't …'

There was nothing in Oscar's behaviour that afternoon that struck Samantha as curious or out of character and there was no indication from her best friend that things were not as they should be. ‘She didn't lose it with him or anything. As far as I know they chilled and watched a movie. The last time she was on the phone on WhatsApp was at 21:13.' At 20:42 Reeva had sent Gina's mother a message telling her she wouldn't be home: ‘My Des!!!! I'm staying in PTA again it's soooooo far to drive I just decided to stay here today and work! See u for valentines day xxxxx.'

Samantha returned home after her movie and went to sleep. But she was startled awake at 4am when Justin's phone rang. It was Oscar.

He shook the hands of the competitors in the lanes alongside him, paced up and down the track, crouched into his stance and pressed his carbon blades against the starting blocks. A smile stretched across his face. Eighty thousand people hushed, awaiting the crack of the starter's gun. His grandmother was in the crowd, so too were other family members and close friends. It was 4 August 2012 and Oscar Pistorius, from Pretoria in South Africa, was about to become the first amputee in history to compete on the track, and the first double amputee to take part in the Olympic Games. For years, he had persistently, doggedly, fought for the right to be able to compete in able-bodied competition, insisting that he did not unfairly benefit from his prosthetic legs. Courtrooms full of men and women had argued and debated the merits of his case, determining his future. All the toil and the training had culminated in this moment – he was the real deal, a global icon, a respected superstar. And he was on top of the world.

Not only would he compete, but Oscar would coast through the first heat of the 400 metres race in a second place time of 45.44 seconds, reaching the semi-final the next day. He would finish last in that race but would go on to carry his country's flag at the Olympic Games closing ceremony days later – a celebrated hero.

‘I've worked for six years to get my chance. I found myself smiling in the starting block, which is very rare in the 400 metres,' said the Blade Runner after the race. ‘I didn't know if I should cry or be happy. It was such a mix of emotions.' He paid tribute to his late mother and recalled her advice: ‘A loser isn't the person that gets involved and comes last, but the person who doesn't get involved in the first place.'