Barry Steenkamp wants Oscar Pistorius to pay for killing his daughter

Oscar Pistorius should “pay” for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, the late model’s emotional father said at the South African athlete’s sentence hearing on Tuesday.

Barry Steenkamp broke down in tears when he took to the dock for the first time on day two of the hearing at Pretoria’s High Court.

Mr Steenkamp called for the world to be able to see photographs of the wounds on his daughter’s body after she was fatally shot by Olympic and Paralympic sprinter Pistorius in February 2013.

The 73-year-old, his hands shaking and voice trembling, revealed he has suffered a stroke since his daughter’s passing and pushed needles into his body to try and feel the pain that she went through.

Mr Steenkamp said he and his wife, June, had forgiven Pistorius because of their Christian faith, but stated: “Oscar has to pay for what he did. He has to pay for it …

“That is up to the court. And we will go by the decision that the court hands down to Oscar. But he has to pay for his crime.”

He added: “Every day of my life, morning, noon, night; I think about her all the time.

“People say it takes two to three years before you start feeling a little bit better about the whole thing. I don’t wish that on any human being. Finding out what happened devastated us. I ended up having a stroke.”

Pistorius was released on house arrest last October after serving a fifth of his five-year sentence.

The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled last December that his initial conviction of culpable homicide should be changed to murder – which carries a minimum jail sentence of 15 years.

Defence witness Jonathan Scholtz argued on Monday that a “broken” Pistorius, who claimed he thought Ms Steenkamp was an intruder when he shot her dead, should be admitted to hospital rather than return to prison.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.