What A Human Being!

Reeva Steenkamp's mother: 'I can forgive' Oscar Pistorius

Eun Kyung KimTODAYJune Steenkamp, the mother of the woman shot and killed by Oscar Pistorius last February, said she hasn't passed judgment on the man accused of murdering her daughter, nor does she wish him any harm.

"It's actually important to forgive him, for me, because I don’t want to live with bitterness in my life," she told Savannah Guthrie on TODAY Tuesday in her first live interview since the trial started. "I don’t want that. I think that one has to forgive.

"If he made a mistake, and it’s an enormous mistake ... and I’ve lost everything that’s important to me, but still, I can forgive. I can forgive," she said.

Pistorius is charged with murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot to death last Feb. 14 inside his South African home. Prosecutors allege Pistorius had planned out the early morning Valentine’s Day murder, but the defendant insists he shot Steenkamp after mistaking her for a burglar.

Themba Hadebe / AFP - Getty Images

June Steenkamp (second from right) was in court Monday in hopes of catching Pistorius' eye.

June Steenkamp was in court Monday on the first day of the trial, in hopes of catching Pistorius' eye. "I wanted to see Oscar face-to-face and that he would know that I was there."

She said her husband recently had a small stroke so she attended the trial for them both to represent their daughter. But Pistorius looked straight ahead when he entered the courtroom.

"He just walked into the courtroom and he looked straight ahead, and then he sat down and never looked my way at all," she said. 

Authorities have pointed out that Reeva Steenkamp was shot while hiding in a locked, upstairs bathroom. They say Pistorius fired his gun four times through the bathroom door, hitting his girlfriend with three of the bullets. He then carried Steenkamp downstairs while awaiting authorities.