Description
In February 2013 the fatal shooting of successful model Reeva Steenkamp by her boyfriend and global sporting star Oscar Pistorius stunned the world. Over the ensuing months, as Pistorius appeared in court, applied for bail and was eventually put on trial, every detail that emerged was analysed, debated, justified and digested. The world was haunted by the events as they were repeated and discussed at length. Public perception vacillated from version to version and from hour to hour. Finally, Judge Masipa found him not guilty of premeditated murder—but guilty of culpable homicide.
Written by Mandy Wiener and Barry Batemen, the go-to journalists on the case for the world's media, Behind the Door is a compelling narrative that meticulously unpacks the evidence that has been so heavily scrutinised on all sides. But more than that, this book goes beyond the facts of the case in search of wider context: the backstory of the police investigation, the nature of the South African criminal justice system, the culture of violence in South Africa, and society's need to create flawed heroes who are destined to fail.
Vivid and gripping, Behind the Door is the most authoritative and insightful account of what really happened behind closed doors that fateful Valentine's morning.