JOHANNESBURG (AP) – After his sentencing hearing last week, convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius was mistakenly ushered to a vehicle carrying Barry Steenkamp, father of Reeva, the girlfriend he killed. A police officer pulled open the sliding door before realizing the error. Surrounded by journalists and onlookers, Pistorius stepped away, made a phone call and was soon driving away in a car that had arrived to collect him.
The mishap outside a Pretoria courthouse came toward the end of a three-year drama in South Africa’s wood-paneled courtrooms as well as in the global arena of public opinion. It nearly thrust together two men described as broken – defense lawyers say the double-amputee Olympian is emotionally devastated, and the prosecution says Steenkamp is shattered by the loss of his daughter.