BBC documentary to reveal the “darker side” of Oscar Pistorius
Executive producer Steve Anderson says that interviews with close friends suggest “there were two Oscar Pistoriuses”
The executive producer behind a new documentary on the Oscar Pistorius murder trial says that interviews with close friends suggest there were two sides to the Paralympic athlete.
Oscar Pistorius: What Really Happened?, which airs on Monday 11 March on BBC3, features tattoo artist Pepi Dimevski, a close friend of Reeva Steenkamp, who says he was concerned about Pistorius’s temper outbursts.
“Dimevski explains how Pistorius threatened to break a guy’s legs,” executive producer Steve Anderson explains. “We catalogue a lot of different stories about the darker side of Oscar Pistorius.”
The film also features interviews with friends of the Pistorius family: “There’s a chap called Adam Azzie who grew up with him [Oscar Pistorius], and he and his father Mike live very close to the Pistorius family,” Anderson says. “They keep horses, and Oscar Pistorius owns a horse that’s in their stables. Mike says on camera that he thinks that Oscar’s life is over. He gets very emotional recounting the events of the night.”
Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder and the case will resume in June. The BBC documentary will examine the events that led up to the death of model Reeva Steenkamp as well as the evidence released during the bail hearing.
“There does seem to be a story that there were two Oscar Pistoriuses,” he continues. “There was the miracle man, the man who was a great ambassador for the Olympics. But more reports have arisen in the last year of some erratic behaviour, flashes of real bad temper.”
The judge on granting bail stated that he did not believe the prosecution had shown that Pistorius had a propensity for violence, although he has said that while serving bail the athlete would be subject to random alcohol and drug tests.
“There have been numerous incidents, some of which there are explanations for, but there are quite a lot of occasions linked with alcohol consumption,” says Anderson. “I think it is significant that the judge has made it one of the conditions of Pistorius’s bail that he can’t drink any alcohol, and that they’re going to carry out random tests between now and June to check for any alcohol and drug consumption. I think there’s a different picture of Oscar emerging certainly.”
Anderson, executive producer at Mentorn Media, explains that the amount of information made available at the bail hearing stage allowed the filmmakers to bring together a detailed picture of what took place on the night of February 14th.
“It was unique that so much detail was revealed in the bail hearing, which has made it so much more reportable,” he says. “I think if we can give people the most complete picture possible, and bring some new and significant information to the table then we will have done our job.”
Oscar Pistorius: What Really Happened? is on tonight at 9:00pm on BBC3
