Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp ( ; ; 19 August 1983 – 14 February 2013) was a South African model and

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant or paralegal specialist, is a legal professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with an admission to practice law. The market for p ...

. She modelled for '' FHM'' magazine and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presenter for

FashionTV FashionTV is an international fashion and lifestyle broadcasting channel. Founded in France in 1997, by its Polish-born president Michel Adam Lisowski, FashionTV is one of the most widely distributed satellite channels in the world with 31 sa ...

in South Africa and starred in television advertisements for

Toyota Land Cruiser The , also sometimes spelt as LandCruiser, is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. It is Toyota's longest running series of models. , the sales of the Land Cruiser totalled more than 1 ...

, Clover Industries, Redds and Aldor Pin Pop. She was a celebrity contestant on the BBC Lifestyle show ''Baking Made Easy'' in 2012 and on ''

Tropika Island of Treasure ''Tropika Island of Treasure'' is a South African reality competition television series. The show features an equal number of South African celebrities and public contestants competing in a luxurious, paradise-island location for a cash prize. Ea ...

'' season 5 which aired on

SABC 3 SABC 3, also branded as S3, is a South African free-to-air television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Since March 2024, it carries programming in English and Afrikaans only. History On 1 January 1982, two tel ...

in February 2013. On

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

2013, Steenkamp was shot dead by her boyfriend,

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius ( , ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. Pistorius r ...

, at his home in Pretoria. He stated that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder hiding in the bathroom. Pistorius was found guilty of

culpable homicide Culpable homicide is a categorisation of certain offences in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the homicide (illegal killing of a person) either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a pa ...

at a first trial, and was sentenced to five years in prison. On 3 December 2015, the

Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), formerly known as the Appellate Division, is the second-highest appellate court, court of appeal in South Africa below the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Constitutional Court. The country's apex court ...

overturned this conviction and instead convicted Pistorius of murder. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which was later increased to 13 years and 5 months by the Court of Appeal.

Early life

Steenkamp was born in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

to parents Barry Steenkamp, a

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them good behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which ...

, and his second wife, June (née Marshall, previously Cowburn), who was born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

, England. She had two older half-siblings from her father and mother's respective previous marriages, Adam Steenkamp and Simone Cowburn. The family later moved to

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, where she attended St Dominic's Priory School. After school she studied law at the University of Port Elizabeth, which became a part of

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Nelson Mandela University, formerly Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, is a public university in South Africa. Established in 1882 as Port Elizabeth, Art School it comprises the former University of Port Elizabeth, the Port Elizabeth Te ...

, where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree in 2005.

Career

After university, Steenkamp worked as a

and as a model. She applied to the bar in late 2011 and hoped to be a qualified legal advocate by the age of 30.

Modeling

Steenkamp began modelling at the age of 14. She was a finalist in the Weekend Post Faces of the Future competition in 2004 and in the Herald Miss Port Elizabeth contest in 2005. She appeared in '' FHM'' magazine as a model and cover girl and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. She also modeled for the jewelry company Sivana Diamonds. She was ranked #40 in the ''FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World'' poll of South African FHM readers in 2011 and #45 in 2012. Her style icon was

Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...

. She was a celebrity face of the Spirit Day anti-bullying campaign in 2012.

Television

Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presenter for

in South Africa. She starred in television advertisements for a range of products, including

, Clover "The One", Redds and Aldor Pin Pop. She featured as a celebrity contestant on the BBC Lifestyle show ''Baking Made Easy'' in 2012. At the time of her death, Steenkamp was signed up to appear on season five of the reality TV program ''

'' and had filmed the series episodes on location in Jamaica. The screening of the series began airing as scheduled on 16 February 2013, two days after her death. The first episode of the series was dedicated to Steenkamp and was preceded by a video tribute to her.

Personal life

Steenkamp was a keen horse rider until she broke her back in a fall in her early 20s and had to learn to walk again. On the South African celebrity circuit, she was a regular

A-list An A-list actor is a major movie star, or one of the most bankable actors in a film industry. The A-list is part of a larger guide called ''The Hot List'', which ranks the bankability of 1,400 movie actors worldwide, and has become an industry ...

guest at red carpet events and a noted

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

on the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

party scene. Steenkamp had been dating

, a South African Olympic and Paralympic runner, since November 2012. She had previously dated

Springbok The springbok or springbuck (''Antidorcas marsupialis'') is an antelope found mainly in south and southwest Africa. The sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Antidorcas'', this bovid was first Species description, described by the Germa ...

rugby player Francois Hougaard.

Murder and trial

2013, Steenkamp's boyfriend Oscar Pistorius fired four shots through the door of a locked bathroom cubicle in his Pretoria home, three of which struck Steenkamp who was on the other side. Immediately following this, Pistorius proceeded to break down the bathroom door with a cricket bat to reach Steenkamp. He attempted to render emergency medical assistance and called for help. One of the first responders to the scene was a neighbor, doctor Johan Stipp, who did a jaw-lift-maneuver on Steenkamp in an attempt to open her airway. In his analysis of the situation he noted that she had no peripheral pulse, showed no sign of breathing-movements, and that her pupils were fixed, dilated. It was apparent that she had been mortally wounded. Her body was cremated at Victoria Park crematorium in Port Elizabeth on 19 February 2013 and the service was conducted by Pastor Kurt Sutton of the Oasis Family Church in Port Elizabeth. Pistorius was arrested and charged with murder. Pistorius admitted that he shot Steenkamp, but said he believed he was shooting an intruder. On 12 September 2014, he was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of culpable homicide in the case. On 21 October 2014, he was sentenced to five years in jail, but only served 10 months. In December 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the culpable homicide verdict and found Pistorius guilty of murder. On 6 July 2016, Judge Masipa sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for murder, despite South Africa carrying a minimum sentence of 15 years for this offence. On 24 November 2017, the Court of Appeal extended Oscar Pistorius's jail term to 13 years and five months with the possibility of parole from 2023.

Media-coverage after death

Steenkamp and Anene Booysen, both young South African women killed in 2013, were named SA Persons of the year 2013 by the ''

Daily Maverick ''Daily Maverick'' is an independent, South African, English language, online news publication and weekly print newspaper, with offices in the country's two most populous cities: Cape Town (the site of its headquarters) and Johannesburg. ...

''. In February 2014,

eNCA eNCA, also known as eNews Channel Africa, is a 24-hour television news broadcaster owned by e.tv that focuses on African stories and events. Launched in June 2008, the channel is South Africa's first and most-watched 24-hour news service. Th ...

broadcast a half-hour documentary special about Steenkamp's life titled ''Reeva: The Model You Thought You Knew''. On 12 September 2014,

broadcast an episode of '' Special Assignment'' titled ''Oscar Pistorius: The Verdict''.